World diplomats get their fill of doubles –Trinidad and Tobago bids for UN GeneralAssembly presidency

FORMER foreign affairs minister Winston Dookeran has welcomed TT's bid to be elected president of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) when the next session convenes at UN headquarters in New York in September.

In a Facebook post on April 1, Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne announced TT's bid for the UNGA presidency and also that the country's most popular street food – doubles – was introduced to diplomats.

Browne said, "We did it! Our team introduced delicious doubles to over 175 diplomats from all over the world, at our launch event for TT's campaign for the presidency of the UN General Assembly in New York."

He added that many of the diplomats enjoyed the local street 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 said, "This is an opportunity to advance the cause of UN reform, so elusive over the years."

He hoped that should TT be elected UNGA president, it would be able to embrace reform measures that support small states and "the microlaterism that is required in this time of global flexibility in big power relations."

Dookeran said this is "an opportunity to embark on a program of active diplomacy, rather that remain in the comfort zone of protest diplomacy."

He also believed that given the plethora of challenges facing the world today, a strong case must be placed before the general assembly for UN reform to deal effectively with those challenges.

As UNGA president, Dookeran reiterated that TT has a chance to make "a lasting contribution for the Institution and for stability in the political order in the making."

He congratulated Browne for launching TT's bid for the UNGA presidency.

Dookeran recalled during his tenure as foreign affairs minister, former TT ambassadors Eden Charles and Nan Ramgoolam set the foundation for greater involvement by TT at the UN.

He said they "left a great reputation for TT’s diplomacy and support for the Principles of the UN Charter."

The UNGA is one of the six principal organs of the UN.

The assembly's responsibilities include setting the UN's budget, appointing non-permanent members to the UN Security Council and appointing the UN secretary-general.

The UNGA is the only UN organ where all member states have equal representation.

The UNGA president is the chair and presiding officer of the assembly, presiding over all regular, special and emergency meetings of the assembly during a particular session.

The presidency rotates annually between five geographic groups – Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern European, Latin American and Caribbean and Western European and other states.

Due to their powerful global stature countries such at the People's Republic of China, France, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, have never held the UNGA presidency.

These countries are all member of the UN Security Council. Under UN convention, it is customary that none of these countries presides over the general assembly.

Caricom countries have been UNGA president on two occasions to date.

Those were Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda in 1993 and 2014 respectively.

The current UNGA president is Csava Korosi of Hungary. He was elected president in 2022, succeeding Abdulla Shahid of the Maldives.