Mozambique, Ecuador, Japan, Malta, and Switzerland got a formal welcome into the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, taking the two-year seats they won unopposed in June.
In a tradition that Kazakhstan started in 2018, the five countries’ ambassadors installed their national flags alongside those of other members outside the council chambers.
Mozambican Ambassador Pedro Comissário Afonso called it “a historic date” as his country marked its first-ever terms on U.N.’s most powerful body.
China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States are permanent, veto-wielding members of the group.
To many countries, winning a council seat is considered a signature diplomatic accomplishment that can raise a nation’s global profile and afford small countries a bigger voice