UNITED NATIONS, April 3. /TASS/. Malta, which presides over the UN Security Council, has started considering Palestine’s request to join the UN, said Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian permanent observer to the organization.

"I think that she started in all the process," he told reporters. "It makes a lot of sense for us to be admitted as the 194th member state of the United Nations. We sincerely hope that this will happen this year."

Mansour said Palestine's bid to become a permanent UN member has gained support from most other members of the organization. For example, the Palestinian request has the backing of the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab Group at the UN. The diplomat said Palestine attached to its application a list of more than 140 countries that have already recognized Palestine as a country.

At the end of February, Mansour said Palestine, with the support of Arab countries, planned to apply to the UN Security Council to start the process of accepting the country as a permanent UN member. Palestine now has a permanent observer to the UN. Countries with this status can attend most meetings and have access to almost all relevant documentation, but have no voting rights. Apart from Palestine, only the Holy See, or the Vatican, has permanent observer status at the UN.

Countries are admitted to the UN by a decision of the organization’s General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. The Security Council grants a recommendation if nine out of its 15 members vote in favor of the country’s application, provided that none of the council’s permanent members -the UK, China, Russia, US and France - vote against it. The application then must collect two-thirds of the vote at the UN General Assembly.