UN, Thursday 23 Oct 2008: India, Japan, Germany and France were among 18 nations elected by the United Nations General Assembly to serve on the 54-member Economic and Social Council for a period of three years beginning January one next.

The 18 outgoing members were Angola, Austria, Benin, Cuba, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Japan, Lichtenstein, Madagascar, Mauritania, Paraguay, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka.

Ahead of the election, the Assembly approved a request from Iceland to relinquish its Council seat for the Group of Western European and Other States at the end of 2008, for the remainder of its term in favour of Norway. Norway was then elected to the Council for a one-year term of office beginning January one next.

As of January one, the remaining members of the Council will be Algeria, Barbados, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Britain Canada, Cameroon, Cape Verde, China, Congo, El Salvador, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malaysia, Mozambique, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, Somalia, Sudan, Sweden, United States and Uruguay.