UN chief Antonio Guterres appointed Rwandan diplomat Claver Gatete as the new executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), on Friday October 6, 2023. The new director will take office soon.
Claver Gatete (Amb.) was serving as permanent representative of Rwanda in New York. Mr Gatete also served as senior government official in Paul Kagame’s government, over the past three decades. Mr Gatete holds bachelor and master’s degrees in agricultural economics.
The UNECA directorship has been vacant, since Vera Songwe (PhD), Cameroonian mathematical economist, stepped down in September 2022. Antonio Pedro of Mozambique, who is Program Support head and deputy executive secretary of UNECA, has been leading UNECA as acting director, for the past one year.
