Belize elected to U.N. body

It has been fourteen years since
Belize last served on a major
United Nations body, but today
the country was elected to sit on
ECOSOC, the U.N.'s Economic and
Social Council. Belize earned one
hundred and eighty of the one
hundred and eighty-five votes to
fill one of three open positions reserved for Latin
America and the Caribbean. Colombia and Panama,
who secured the other two seats, received one
hundred and seventy-nine votes each. A total of
eighteen vacant seats were filled today on the
fifty-four-member body. The three-year term of the
new members runs from January 2004 through
December of 2006. According to Belize's U.N.
Ambassador Stuart Leslie, Belize will work with other
small states in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to
promote meaningful and sustainable development. In
thanking the U.N. members for their vote, Leslie
pointed out that Belize's effort to join ECOSOC was
part of his government's initiative to seek a higher
profile on the world stage through deeper involvement
in regional and international organisations.

CONGRATUALTIONS BELIZE!!!!!!!