The Permanent Mission of Nepal to the United Nations in New York is set to assume the chairmanship of the Group of the Asia- Pacific States in New York for the month of September 2017.

 While announcing this arrangement at the Group's monthly meeting in New York this afternoon, its chair for August, Ambassador Marlene Moses, Permanent Representative of Nauru, extended special thanks to the delegation of Nepal for accepting the responsibility despite September being a hectic month in New York and assured of her delegation's full cooperation. On behalf of the Group, she also extended heartfelt condolences on the death and suffering caused by recent floods and landslides in Nepal.

 On the occasion, Ambassador Durga Prasad Bhattarai, Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations,  on behalf of the Government of Nepal, expressed gratitude for the condolences expressed by the chair and other friends of Nepal on the deaths and damage Nepal sustained due to Monsoon induced floods and landslides in recent weeks.

 He then, welcomed the opportunity as an honour for his delegation to serve the Group as its chair. He assured that utmost will be done to carry out the responsibility in a professional manner and expressed the confidence that his delegation would receive the invaluable support and cooperation from all delegations in the Group's work.

 According to a press release issued by Permanent Mission of Nepal, New York, this is the first time that Nepal will be chairing the Group since September 2012.

 According to the press release, the work of the chair involves communication and coordination among the Group members as well as between the Group and the UN on candidature matters, representation of the Group in special events at the UN, and convening of a monthly meeting to consider and decide on various candidatures of the members to various elected positions within the UN System.

 All elected positions in the UN System are distributed among the Member States on the basis of their respective geographical regions. For that purpose, countries are currently arranged under five regional groups, of which Asia-Pacific is the largest comprising 55 states. The other groups are Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin American and the Caribbean, and the Western European and other countries.