29 July 2020 - UN-Habitat’s Executive Board has elected the new members of its Bureau, which is responsible for organizing Board meetings, facilitating transparent decision making and guiding the Board in its conduct of work.

The Executive Board, which was resuming its first regular session this year and met online, elected Iran as the Chair of the Executive Board (Asia Pacific), Egypt (Africa), Chile (Latin America and the Caribbean) and France (Western Europe and others) as Vice Chairs and Serbia (Eastern Europe) as the Rapporteur. Together they make up the Bureau of the Executive Board.

The new Bureau members were elected by acclamation which means the regional groups all agreed by consensus on the nominees as proposed by their respective regional groups. The new Bureau members will hold office  until the first session of the Executive Board in 2021.

The UN-Habitat Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sharif welcomed the incoming members of the Bureau of the Executive Board and assured them of her commitment to work with all of them for the good of the organization and in line with the duty UN-Habitat has towards Member States. She emphasized that the Board plays a crucial oversight role, particularly over UN-Habitat’s work programme and budget.

The conclusion of the elections ends the first session of the Executive Board for 2020. The second session of the Board is tentatively scheduled for 27-29 October 2020.