United Nations – Nigeria and 31 other countries were on Wednesday in Paris elected into the executive board of  the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

A UN statement  said the ongoing 36th session of the General Conference elected board members to four-year terms on the basis of a geographical allocation.

Nigeria, Namibia, Ethiopia, Mali, Gabon, Malawi, Angola and Gambia were the African countries to join the executive board.

The Middle East and North Africa will be represented by the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia with Austria, France, Spain, Italy, United Kingdom and Northern Ireland and the U.S. from the Western European and other countries group.

Russia, Czech Republic, Montenegro and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia were chosen from Eastern Europe while Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador and Mexico were elected from Latin America and the Caribbean.

Tthe Republic of Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Papua New Guinea will represent Asia on the board.

UNESCO’s General Conference comprises the agency’s Member States and is tasked with determining the agency’s policies and main lines of work.

The conference also elects the 58-member Executive Board, which assumes the overall management of the agency.

The new members joined others elected during the 2009 session of the General Conference and whose mandate will expire in 2013.

The a major outcome of UNESCO’s General Conference this year is the admission of Palestine as a full member of the body.

The General Conference, the agency’s highest ruling body, took the decision by a vote of 107 in favour to 14 against, with 52 abstentions.

The move prompted the U.S to immediately cut funding to the organisation.

The funding cut has implications for the UN body because the U.S. provides 22 per cent of UNESCO’s budget.  (NAN)