Indian official Mahesh Kumar elected to UN advisory panel

Mahesh Kumar, First Secretary in India's Permanent Mission to the UN, was elected, on 4 November, by acclamation to the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ).

The committee plays a crucial role in helping the General Assembly's Fifth Committee, which deals with administrative and budgetary issues, examine the organisation's budget and numerous management initiatives.

Kumar was elected along with Takeshi Akamatsu of Japan and Ye Xuenong of China from the Asia-Pacific States to three-year terms starting January 2017.

India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin tweeted after the election, "another young Indian wins seat at top. Mahesh Kumar elected today by acclamation to Administrative & Budgetary Committee (ACABQ)."

Kumar's election comes just a day after 33-year-old Indian lawyer Aniruddha Rajput won a hotly-contested election in the UN General Assembly for membership to the International Law Commission, the UN organ tasked with the progressive development of international law and its codification.

Rajput got 160 votes, topping the Asia-Pacific group in voting that was held by way of secret ballot.

A career diplomat from the Indian Foreign Service, Kumar has served in various capacities in Brussels, Tel Aviv and Ramallah, in addition to New Delhi. He has considerable work experience relating to development partnership projects and administrative and budgetary matters, according to his profile submitted to the UN.

He recently served as Head of the Representative Office of India to the State of Palestine, based in Ramallah where his responsibilities included the supervision of the ongoing implementation of US$ 4 million development projects that are funded by India.