RP wins seat in UN body on international trade law

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines has won a seat in the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) to serve a six-year term in the core legal body of the UN system in the field of international trade law.  

The Philippine Mission to the United Nations said yesterday the elections took place about 35 years after it first served in UNCITRAL.

In his report to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, Ambassador Hilario Davide Jr., Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said the Philippines was elected by acclamation during the 35th plenary meeting of the 64th session of the General Assembly.

Davide said the Philippines will serve a six-year term in UNCITRAL from 2010 to 2016 beginning June 21, 2010. The Philippines previously served in the 60-member UNCITRAL from 1974 to 1986.

Elected along with the Philippines were Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Fiji, Gabon, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, the United States of America and Venezuela. Two seats representing Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean respectively are still vacant.

The UNCITRAL election followed the election of the Philippines last month to a three-year term in the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, which serves as the central forum for discussing international economic and social issues.

In May, the Philippines was elected President of the 2010 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and later as vice chairman of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) of the 64th session of the General Assembly and as vice chairman of the 18th session of the Committee on Sustainable Development (CSD).

Prior to this, the Philippines was also elected to the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the Commission on Population and Development (CPD), and the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ), which are all subsidiary organs of the UN.

Established in 1966, UNCITRAL is mandated to remove legal obstacles to international trade by progressively modernizing and harmonizing trade law. It prepares legal texts in a number of key areas such as international commercial dispute settlement, electronic commerce, insolvency, international payments, sale of goods, transport law, procurement and infrastructure development.