New York (TDI): Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister, Khalilur Rahman, was elected President of the UN General Assembly’s 81st session on Tuesday, defeating Andreas Kakouris of Cyprus in a tough vote.
He now faces the task of steering the world’s most representative deliberative body through one of its most turbulent periods in decades.
In a secret-ballot election, Rahman secured 99 votes to Kakouris’s 91, with 190 ballots cast and no abstentions. The presidency rotates among the UN’s five regional groups, and the 81st session falls to the Asia-Pacific group.
Rahman will serve a one-year term beginning 8th September. His presidency will coincide with one of the most consequential processes on the UN calendar; the selection of Secretary-General António Guterres’s successor, whose term ends on 31 December 2026.
Khalilur Rahman of Bangladesh has been elected President of the General Assembly for its upcoming 81st session.
“I will dedicate myself to rebuilding trust, nurturing consensus, and opening space for good faith negotiations,” he pledged.https://t.co/Y8uEWxQHSR
— United Nations (@UN) June 2, 2026
Rahman brings more than four decades of diplomatic experience to the role. Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister since February, he previously served as National Security Adviser and High Representative on the Rohingya Issue, and is a career diplomat who joined Bangladesh’s foreign service in 1979.
Accepting the position, Rahman acknowledged the weight of the moment. “The UN will commence its ninth decade at a time when trust in our organization is being tested on multiple fronts,” he told Member States.
Outgoing General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock did not sugarcoat the challenge ahead, warning that the UN was facing not just opposition but “immense pressure,” with consensus increasingly difficult to achieve and defense of the UN Charter becoming “a daily necessity.”
She added that “the role of the president of the General Assembly is no longer simply procedural. Secretary-General Guterres said the world confronts “conflicts, divisions, rising inequality and climate chaos,” and pointed to slowing progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.
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Rahman outlined six priorities for his presidency; peace and security, accelerating progress on the SDGs, climate action, human rights, governance of emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, and UN reform.
His overarching theme for the session is “Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations that Delivers for All.”
It is both an aspiration and an acknowledgment of how far the institution has drifted from that ideal. “As your president,” he pledged, “I will dedicate myself to rebuilding trust, nurturing consensus, and opening space for good faith negotiations that will lead to outcomes for all that are owned by all.”
The 81st session will open on 8th September, with world leaders gathering two weeks later for the annual high-level debate at UN Headquarters in New York.
