Manama: Qatar's head of the permanent mission to the United Nations has been endorsed by Asian member-countries in the UN as the president of the 66th United Nations General Assembly.

Qatar News Agency (QNA) said that the endorsement of Nasr Abdul Aziz Al Nasser was a testimony to the "growing stature of Qatar in the world today".

Speaking on Qatar Foundation radio, Al Nasser said that he would be elected officially in mid-June as the president of the 66th session of the General Assembly.

He will officially assume his year-long position on September 14.

Al Nasser expressed the hope that Qatar would be able to contribute even more on the global scale during his presidency.

Speaking about the events that led to his endorsement, he said that he was pitted against the current adviser of Nepal's prime minister, but he won a secret vote held by the Group of Asian State Members.

"The 66th session is one of the most defining in the United Nation's history and has a number of complicated issues on the agenda, with disarmament being the foremost," he said.

Another important issue is the re-drafting and the expansion of the Security Council, which he described as a "thorny issue".

Officials have been trying for more than 15 years to find a compromise to expand the Security Council.

Budget

Other issues include the United Nation's budget.

He said that the budget is divided into two main sub-categories, the expenditure of the UN and the budget for peacekeeping operations.

Peacekeeping operations have an unlimited budget due to the great number of problems and wars in the world, he said

According to Al Nasser, there will also be a conflict between the rich and the poor countries, "as poor countries expect to be exempted from paying their quotas in the budget." The issue will need "a lot of work" in order to find a compromise satisfying all parties.

Terrorism

Terrorism remains a strong issue in all United Nations sessions, he said.

"The issue of terrorism is tricky due to the difficulty in finding a common definition that is agreed upon by all UN members."

One other major issue is to find a resolution to the Palestinian cause.