Ambassador Sverre Bergh Johansen was elected to serve a two-year term as President of the Geneva-based body, while the Permanent Representative of Mauritius, Ambassador Jaynarain Meetoo, was elected as Vice-President. The Permanent Representative of Bangladesh serves as the body's other Vice-President.

The Governing Council, which has the same membership as the UN Security Council, is the Compensation Commission's policy-making organ. As such, the Governing Council makes decisions based on recommendations regarding compensation for claimants.

More than 2.6 million claims have been received by the Commission, which has so far awarded compensation amounting to over $32 billion.

Meanwhile, a United Nations spokesman told reporters in New York today that a team of UN experts scheduled to visit Iraq to examine ways to implement the "cash component" of the oil-for-food programme for the petroleum industry would travel to the country on 12 March.

The team had originally been scheduled to leave on 20 February, but adjusted its plans, in part, due to a Muslim holy day called Eid Al-Adha which falls on 5 March.

The "cash component" involves money for equipment other than supplies, such as labour and parts. By a resolution adopted last December which extended the oil-for-food programme, the Security Council requested the Secretary-General to make the necessary arrangements, subject to Council approval, to allow funds of up to 600 million euros to be used "for the costs of installation and maintenance, including training services, of the equipment and spare parts for the oil industry." It also called upon the Iraqi Government to cooperate in the implementation of such arrangements.