UNESCO Executive Appointments

Date：2018-04-02

Xing Qu (China), Ernesto Renato Ottone Ramírez (Chile), Stefania Giannini (Italy), Moez Chakchouk (Tunisia)

29 March 2018

UNESCO’s Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, announced the nomination of four new members of the Senior Management Team of the Organization.

Mr Xing Qu (China, 61 years old) as Deputy Director General. Former President of the Institute of International Studies of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2009-2014), he was Ambassador of China to Belgium from 2014.

Ms Stefania Giannini (Italy, 57 years old) as Assistant Director-General for Education. Former Italian Minister of Education, Universities and Research (2014-2016), she was adviser to the European Commissioner for Research and Innovation, Carlos Moedas since October 2017.

Mr Ernesto Renato Ottone Ramirez (Chile, 45 years old) as Assistant Director-General for Culture. Former Minister of Culture and the Arts of Chile (2015-2018), he chaired Regional Centre for the Promotion of Books in Latin America and the Caribbean (2016 – 2017).

Mr Moez Chakchouk (Tunisia, 42 years old) as Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information. Former Commissioner for the Global Commission on Internet Governance (2014-2016) and President Director-General of the Tunisian Internet Agency (2011-2015), since 2015 he has served as President Director-General of the Tunisian Post.

They will take up their respective duties in the coming weeks.

They join the direction of the Organization, which currently includes Ms. Flavia Schlegel (Switzerland), Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences; Vladimir Ryabinin (Russia), Assistant Director-General and Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission; Ms. Nada Al-Nashif (Jordan), Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences and Mr. Firmin Edouard Matoko (Congo), Assistant Director-General of the Africa Department.

On the occasion of these 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. "

The Director-General finally thanked warmly 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.