Belize elected to U.N. body

It has been fourteen years since Belize last served on a major United Nations body, but today the country was elected to sit on ECOSOC, the U.N.’s Economic and Social Council. Belize earned one hundred and eighty of the one hundred and eighty-five votes to fill one of three open positions reserved for Latin America and the Caribbean. Colombia and Panama, who secured the other two seats, received one hundred and seventy-nine votes each. A total of eighteen vacant seats were filled today on the fifty-four-member body. The three-year term of the new members runs from January 2004 through December of 2006. According to Belize’s U.N. Ambassador Stuart Leslie, Belize will work with other small states in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to promote meaningful and sustainable development. In thanking the U.N. members for their vote, Leslie pointed out that Belize’s effort to join ECOSOC was part of his government’s initiative to seek a higher profile on the world stage through deeper involvement in regional and international organisations.