DUSHANBE, June 29, Asia-Plus -- Kazakhstan has been elected to the United Nations Security Council for a two-year term.

Reuters reports that Kazakhstan was elected to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, beating Thailand in a second round of voting to join Sweden, Ethiopia and Bolivia for a two-year term starting January 1, 2017.

The 193-member U.N. General Assembly reportedly elected Kazakhstan with 138 votes in favor over Thailand.  Countries need more than two-thirds of the vote to win a seat.  The win means Kazakhstan gets a nonpermanent Security Council seat allocated for Asia.

The Diplomat reports that Kazakhstan has long been on a quest to be recognized internationally as a leading country.  The initiative comes from the very top: President Nursultan Nazarbayev has worked consistently to frame Kazakhstan as economically dynamic and politically savvy. The government’s strategies, outlined in several grand-scale narratives–the 100 Concrete Steps to achieve the Five Institutional Reforms and Zhurly Nol, the Bright Path–are, in brief, a scheme to bring Kazakhstan into the ranks of the top-30 world economies and give Astana a seat next to Washington, Brussels, Beijing, and Moscow in the geopolitical realm.

The 15-member Security Council consists of five permanent members with veto power -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain, and France -- and 10 nonpermanent members elected for two-year terms.  Nonpermanent seats are allocated by region and candidate countries are nominated by regional groups.