The Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Ms Audrey Azoulay, has announced the appointment of four new members of the Organization’s Senior Management Team.
The new appointees are Mr Xing Qu of China, who is designated Deputy Director General; Ms Stefania Giannini of Italy, who will take over as Assistant Director-General for Education; Mr Ernesto Renato Ottone Ramirez, from Chile, to be assigned Assistant Director-General for Culture; and Mr Moez Chakchouk of Tunisia, tapped as Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information.
Mr Xing Qu, 61 years old, who was President of the Institute of International Studies of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2009 to 2014, was Ambassador of China to Belgium since 2014 while Ms Stefania Giannini, 57 years old, was Italian Minister of Education, Universities and Research from 2014 to 2016; and Adviser to the European Commissioner for Research and Innovation, Carlos Moedas, since October 2017.
Mr Ernesto Renato Ottone Ramirez, 45 years old, was Minister of Culture and the Arts of Chile from 2015 to 2018. He chaired the Regional Centre for the Promotion of Books in Latin America and the Caribbean from 2016 to 2017, while Mr Moez Chakchouk, 42 years old, was Commissioner for the Global Commission on Internet Governance from 2014 to 2016 and President Director-General of the Tunisian Internet Agency from 2011 to 2015. Since 2015, he has served as President Director-General of the Tunisian Post.
The new appointees will be joining others in the Senior Management Team of the Organization, which currently include Ms. Flavia Schlegel of Switzerland, who is Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences; Vladimir Ryabinin of Russia, who is Assistant Director-General and Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission; Ms. Nada Al-Nashif of Jordan, who is Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences and Mr. Firmin Edouard Matoko of Congo, who is Assistant Director-General of the Africa Department.
Upon announcing the appointments, the Director-General said: “The arrival of these four individuals to UNESCO’s Senior Management Team fully aligns with dynamic that I intend to instil in our Organization. The quality of their professional careers and their diversity are real assets for UNESCO and reflect our ambition to be at the crossroads of cultures to build peace. ”
She also thanked Mr Getachew Engida, outgoing Deputy Director-General, for his commitment to UNESCO and expressed her appreciation of the work done in recent years in the Organization by the previous Assistant Directors-Generals.
