KIGALI - Rwanda was elected to chair the Governing Council of the United Nations Agency for Human Settlements (UN-Habitat) during the ongoing 23rd Session of the Council, underway in Nairobi- Kenya, which serves as headquarters to the world body.

China and Chile took the positions of Vice President and Finland the Rapporteur.

The council is a subsidiary of the UN General Assembly, and serves as the intergovernmental decision-making body of UN-Habitat.

At the event, the Minister of Infrastructure, Vincent Karega, was elected as the new president of the Council, replacing Clifford Warmington from Jamaica.
"Rwanda was elected to the post because of the good organisation of urban settlements and infrastructures,” Karega said, in an interview with The New Times yesterday.

He added that the post, which Rwanda would hold for two years, shows how the country is globally recognised for promoting urban development and human settlement.

The forum, held under the theme "Sustainable Urban Development through Expanding Equitable Access to Land, Housing, Basic Services and Infrastructure” was officially opened by Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki.

During her tenure, Rwanda would set UN-Habitat’s policies by developing and promoting policy objectives, priorities and guidelines regarding existing and planned programmes of work in the field of human settlements.

The country would also oversee working relations with partners by closely following the activities of the organisations within the UN system and other international organisations in the field of human settlements and as well as approving UN-Habitat’s biennial work programme and budget.

The Governing Council meets every two years to examine UN-HABITAT’s work and relationships with its partners. It is a high-level forum of governments at the ministerial level during which policy guidelines and the organisation’s budget are established for the subsequent two-year period.

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