DUBAI: Saudi Arabia is backing its Gulf neighbor, the UAE’s bid for a non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council for 2022-23.
Khalid bin Muhammad Manzalawi, Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, called on other countries to support the UAE candidacy during a virtual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Group of the world body.
Manzalawi said the ‘UAE has succeeded in addressing major issues closely related to international cooperation, peace, security, and sustainable development’ and ‘it has a leading humanitarian action, represented through its close cooperation with the United Nations and international partners to reach the common goal of achieving lasting peace in the Middle East and around the entire world.’
The Saudi envoy praised the UAE’s efforts ‘to promote the message of peace, spread a culture of tolerance, in addition to its work in supporting diplomatic efforts aimed at settling disputes by peaceful means through dialogue and confidence-building.’
The UAE earlier repeated its call for the allocation of a permanent seat for Arabs in the UN Security Council, which could be filled by rotation as is done by the League of Arab States.
The enlargement of permanent and non-permanent membership of the Security Council should be consistent and approved by at least two thirds of the members of the General Assembly, Abdul Aziz Nasser Al-Shamsi, the UAE's permanent representative to the UN, has proposed.
