Fifty-Seventh UN General Assembly

The UN General Assembly elected Mr.Jan Kavan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, as President of the fifty-seventh session; he will assume that role on September 10, 2002. The current UN General Assembly President is Mr. Han Seung-soo (Republic of Korea). This was the first time in the history of the United Nations the President of the General Assembly, and other officers, were elected well in advance of the opening session.

Mr. Kavan, son of a diplomat, was born on October 17, 1946 in London. He studied journalism at Prague�s Charles University, international relations at the London School of Economics, as well as political science and history at both Reading and Oxford Universities; he also taught political science and history at several United States universities. Upon his return to Prague in 1989 he served in several parliamentary and ministerial positions.

The General Assembly also elected 21 vice-presidents from Austria, Bahrain, Barbados, Chad, China, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Gambia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Portugal, Qatar, Russian Federation, Swaziland, Togo, United Kingdom, United States and Viet Nam. Six Main Committee chairmen were also elected: Matia Mulumba Semakula Kiwanuka (Uganda), First Committee (Disarmament and International Security); Marco Antonio Suazo Fernandez (Honduras), Second Committee (Economic and Financial); Christian Wenaweser (Liechtenstein), Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural); Graham Maitland (South Africa), Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization); Murari Raj Sharma (Nepal), Fifth Committee (Financial and Budgetary); and Arpad Prandler (Hungary), Sixth Committee (Legal).

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