Bangladesh has been elected to the governing councils of all four regional institutions of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) for the period of 2022-25 in Bangkok, Thailand.

The election was held at the United Nations Conference Centre, Bangkok, Thailand as well as at the ESCAP Subregional Office for the Pacific, Suva, Fiji, and at the UN Compound, Beijing, China simultaneously on Thursday, a foreign ministry press release said on Friday.

Bangladesh is the only country besides India that is elected to the governing councils in all four regional institutions of UNESCAP.

The four regional institutions are the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP) situated in Makuhari, Japan; the Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (APCICT) situated in Incheon City, Korea, and the Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (CSAM) situated in Beijing, China and the Asian and Pacific Centre for the Development of Disaster Information Management (APDIM) situated in Tehran, Iran.

The ESCAP has five regional institutions that support the substantive divisions of ESCAP in their goals.

Each regional institute has a governing council and they are responsible for reviewing the institutions' administration and financial status as well as the implementation of the program of work and advising the institute directors on the formulation of the programme of work.

This victory is also a shred of glaring evidence that how the Asia-Pacific leadership values Bangladesh's leadership in this largest UN organization, said the release.

This victory also reflects confidence in our "development model" which is progressing in an indomitable spirit and even showing great resilience from shocks of COVID-19 and has started a turnaround at a great pace, said the foreign ministry.

Through the membership in the Governing councils of these institutions, Bangladesh will have the opportunity to advise on the institutions' programs and also in finance, and in other administrative matters.

Bangladesh would likely get more focus in terms of capacity building, technology transfer, skill development in the area of ICT, agriculture, statistics, science and technology, and disaster management, said the release.