Jan Kavan, deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs of the Czech Republic, was elected president of the 57th General Assembly session Monday.
The election was conducted at an open meeting of the assembly at the UN headquarters in New York. The new president will assume his role upon the opening of the 57th session on September 10.
The newly elected president was born on October 17, 1946, in London. Kavan began his political career in 1989, in which he served on several parliamentary and ministerial positions, including that of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1998 to 2002.
Current Assembly President Han Seung-soo said after the election that the election had far-reaching implications.
"For the first time in the history of the world body, officers would be elected well in advance of the opening of a session, rather than at the beginning," he said. "It was more than a procedural modification, and it would strengthen the General Assembly by enabling its president to play his or her role much more expeditiously and expediently."
(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2002)
