Photo: VCG

Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman was elected president of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday.

With 190 UN member states present and voting, Rahman received 99 votes, against 91 votes for Andreas S. Kakouris, special envoy of Cyprus's foreign minister for multilateralism.

Rahman, who was sworn in as Bangladeshi foreign minister in February 2026, will take office when the 81st UNGA session convenes in September this year for a one-year term.

"I accept the position of the President of the 81st session with humility and respect," Rahman said in remarks at the General Assembly after the election.

Noting that the United Nations is being tested on multiple fronts, with conflicts and wars continuing to inflict "untold sufferings" and the world body under increasing pressure and facing financial stress, Rahman said these challenges "tend to undermine the public trust and confidence and the ability of our organisation to deliver its promises."

He promised to address these challenges along six pillars of action: peace and security, the 2030 agenda, climate change, human rights, emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, and UN reform.

Born in 1954, Rahman joined the diplomatic service of Bangladesh in 1979, and in 1999, he joined the UN Secretariat as special adviser at the UN Conference on Trade and Development in Geneva. During the ensuing 25 years at the United Nations, he held senior positions in the United Nations in New York and Geneva, and was a lead author of and substantive contributor to major UN flagship publications.