History has been created today as a Fijian has been elected as the President of the United Nations General Assembly’s 71st session for the first time.

Fiji's Ambassador to the UN in New York, Peter Thomson was elected as President earlier this morning.

Ambassador Thomson's candidacy was put forward by Fiji and eleven other Pacific Small Island Developing States at the UN.

He was in a two‑way contest with Andreas Mavroyiannis of Cyprus.

All 193 Member States of the United Nations were eligible to participate in the simple‑majority, secret‑ballot election, with the candidate from Cyprus receiving 90 votes and Ambassador Thomson receiving 94 votes.

After the election, Ambassador Thomson expressed his deep appreciation to those who had given their support in today's ballot and thanked the Government of Fiji and the Pacific Small Island Developing States for putting his name forward for the Presidency.

He gave special thanks to the hundreds of Fijians serving in the blue berets of UN peacekeeping in the world's trouble‑spots.

Ambassador Thomson is the first national of a Pacific Island Country to be elected to the Presidency in the history of the United Nations.

In his address to the General Assembly after the elections, Ambassador Thomson said he would be bringing to the General Assembly's 71st Session the international issues of importance to developing countries and the General Assembly as a whole, with special attention on the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, along with necessary action on Climate Change and Ocean issues.

He said that by the end of the 71st Session, the General Assembly must be able to show real progress on all seventeen Sustainable Development Goals.