NEW YORK - Cyprus' Permanent Representative at the UN Nikolaos Emiliou has been unanimously elected as Chairman of the United Nations Committee on Relations with the Host Country.

Chaired since 1971 by successive Permanent Representatives of Cyprus, the Committee meets every two months, although emergency meetings can be requested by any UN member state at any time.

All states may participate in the work of the Committee as observers, but only Committee members may vote. The Committee deals with the full range of issues concerning the relationship between the host country and the United Nations community: the security of the missions and their personnel, visas, immigration and customs procedures, and taxation, diplomatic indebtedness, housing, transportation and parking, insurance, education, and health matters, and public relations issues with the host city.

The United Nations Committee on Relations with the Host Country was established in 1971 by General Assembly Resolution 2819. At present, the Committee is composed of 19 member states: Bulgaria, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Cyprus, France, Honduras, Hungary, Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, Mali, Russian Federation, Senegal, Spain, United Kingdom, and the United States.