Rebecca Grynspan from Costa Rica became the first woman and Central American Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) after taking office on September 13, 2021.
Grynspan, the former Vice-President of Costa Rica, will serve as the Secretary-General of UNCTAD for the period of four years. She succeeded Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi, who was also the first Kenyan to head the UN trade agency from 2013 to 2021.
Dr. Kituyi from Kenya was appointed as the seventh Secretary-General of UNCTAD on September 1, 2013, and was reappointed for another four-year term in July 2017. He stepped down from the position in February 2021 to return to Kenya to prepare for the Presidency in the 2022 General Elections.
Isabella Durant from Belgium had replaced Dr. Kituyi in an acting capacity after his departure on February 15, 2021.
UN’s approval to Rebecca Grynspan to head UNCTAD
The United Nations General Assembly on June 12, 2021, had approved the nomination of the Costa Rican economist Rebecca Grynspan to head the UN agency.
Grynspan was nominated for the position by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. UNCTAD supports developing countries in their efforts to benefit from the globalized economy and to deal with the potential drawbacks of economic integration.
Who is Rebecca Grynspan?
• Rebecca Grynspan is an economist from Costa Rica. She was the Vice-President of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998.
• She has previously served as the lbero-American Secretary-General from 2014-2021 and as UN Under-Secretary-General and the Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
• Grynspan has also previously served as the Director of UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean. She was appointed to the position by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in December 2005.
• Early in her career, Rebecca Grynspan was also a researcher and professor at the Economic Science Research Institute at Costa Rica University.
What Rebecca Grynspan said on becoming the Secretary-General of UNCTAD?
Grynspan said that she is honored to begin work at UNCTAD at a critical time for the world. She added that COVID-19 has exposed widespread inequalities and the vulnerabilities of the world and the development model. As we recover from the pandemic, we have an opportunity of rebalancing the global economy.
Today I join @UNCTAD as Secretary-General as the @UN's trade body prepares to host the first major trade conference amid #COVID19.
— Rebeca Grynspan (@RGrynspan) September 13, 2021
Ours is a great responsibility. Now is the time to generate global solutions for trade and development. I look forward to doing so at UNCTAD's helm.
Grynspan also called on the countries to pursue bold decisions to address the unmet finance, trade, investment, and technology need of the developing countries struggling to meet sustainable development challenges and COVID economic fallout.
About UNCTAD:
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development is an intergovernmental organization that was established in 1964 to promote the interests of the developing states in world trade.
The organization is part of the United Nations Secretariat that deals with investment, trade, and development issues.
The main objective of UNCTAD is to formulate the policies related to all the aspects of the development including aid, transport, trade, technology, and finance. The Permanent Secretariat of UNCTAD is in Geneva.
Comments
All Comments (0)
Join the conversation