The UN General Assembly is expected to elect five new non-permanent members of the UN Security Council on October 15th, 2009.

The election will be conducted at the plenary session of the General Assembly through secret voting for each regional group.

On Tuesday night, the Permanent Mission of BiH to the UN organized a reception for members of the diplomatic corps on the East River to mark this occasion. Ambassador Ivan Barbalic, Permanent Representative of BiH to the United Nations, opened the event in the presence of many guests and journalists. Chairman of the BiH Presidency Zeljko Komsic also addressed the guests at this highly attended reception.    

“Your presence here confirms that Bosnia and Herzegovina has many friends in the world – countries that have stood by us in difficult times and who today are our partners in building a better, more just world,” stated, among other things, BiH Presidency Chairman Komsic.

Chairman Komsic also added that BiH, as one of the republics of the former SFRY, can proudly say that it was one of the founders of the United Nations. Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH Sven Alkalaj also attended the reception and spoke to a large group of journalists about the importance of BiH’s participation in the work of the UN Security Council.

On Thursday, October 15th, 2009, Minister Alkalaj will be present at the UN General Assembly vote. Bosnia and Herzegovina must gain two-thirds of the votes of all the UN member states in order to be elected in the first round of voting; this means that BiH needs more than 128 votes out of the 192 United Nations member states.