Winston Dookeran, a former foreign affairs minister, has endorsed T&T’s candidacy to lead the UNGA when its upcoming session meets in September at UN headquarters in New York.
Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr. Amery Browne launched T&T’s quest for the UNGA leadership in a Facebook post on April 1 along with the introduction of doubles, the nation’s most well-known street snack, to diplomats.
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Browne noted, “We did it! Our team introduced delicious doubles to over 175 diplomats from all over the world, at our launch event for T&T’s campaign for the presidency of the UN General Assembly in New York.”
Many of the ambassadors, he said, delighted in the regional food.
“Many of them had never tasted anything like this before, and I was so proud to see them repeatedly coming back for more!”
Dookeran noted, “This is an opportunity to advance the cause of UN reform, so elusive over the years.”
If T&T were chosen to lead the UNGA, he believed that it would be able to accept reform initiatives that aid smaller nations and “the microlaterism that is required in this time of global flexibility in big power relations.”
This is “an opportunity to embark on a program of active diplomacy, rather than remain in the comfort zone of protest diplomacy,” according to Dookeran.
He further added that a compelling argument for UN reform needed to be made before the general assembly in light of the numerous issues the world is currently experiencing in order to successfully address those challenges.
Dookeran said that T&T has the potential to “make a lasting contribution for the Institution and for stability in the political order in the making” in his capacity as UNGA president.
He praised Browne for initiating T&T’s UNGA leadership campaign.
Dookeran noted that former T&T ambassadors Nan Ramgoolam and Eden Charles laid the groundwork for T&T’s increased presence at the UN while he served as foreign affairs minister.
They “left a great reputation for T&T’s diplomacy and support for the Principles of the UN Charter,” the speaker claimed.
One of the UN’s six main bodies is the UNGA.
The assembly is responsible for choosing the UN secretary-general, non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, and the budget for the organization.
The UNGA is the only body in which every member state has an equal voice.
The UNGA president serves as the assembly’s chair and presiding officer, officiating over all regular, extraordinary, and emergency meetings throughout a given session.
Every year, the five geographical regions of Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean, and Western Europe and other nations take turns holding the presidency. The assembly is responsible for choosing the UN secretary-general, non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, and the budget for the organization.
All member nations are equally represented in the UNGA, the sole UN body.
The chair and presiding officer of the UNGA is the president, who also presides over all of the assembly’s regular, extraordinary, and emergency meetings throughout a given session.
Each year, the president alternates among five geographical regions: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Western Europe and other nations.
Countries like the People’s Republic of China, France, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States have never presided over the UNGA because of their significant worldwide influence.
Each of these nations is a part of the UN Security Council. Conventionally, none of these nations preside over the general assembly according to the UN.
Caricom nations have presided over the UNGA more than two occasions thus far.
In 1993 and 2014, those were Guyana and Antigua & Barbuda, respectively.
Csava Korosi of Hungary serves as the UNGA’s current president. He succeeded Abdulla Shahid of the Maldives as president in 2022 after winning the election.
