ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s nominee has been elected as the independent chairperson of the Council of Food and Agriculture Orga­n­i­sation (FAO), the Foreign Office said on Monday.

Pakistan nominated Khalid Mehboob for the po­­si­tion. He was one of the six candidates for the post. The other candidates were from Albania, Bosnia, Cyprus, Slovakia, and Indonesia. Mr Mehboob is the Alternative Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the FAO. He is currently chairman of the FAO Finance Committee.

He won the election bagging 64 votes. The election was held on Friday on the occasion of the FAO’s governing conference. His tenure will run up till 2019.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Envi­ron­ment Programme, Raza Bashir Tarar, has been unanimously re-elected as vice chair of the Committee of Permanent Represen­tatives Bureau from the Asia Pacific Group.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2017