The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday, October 6, appointed Rwanda’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Claver Gatete, to lead the UN’s Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
Guterres expressed his gratitude to the former Executive Secretary, Vera Songwe from Cameroon, as well as to the Deputy Executive Secretary, Programme Support, Antonio M. A. Pedro from Mozambique, who will continue to serve as Acting Executive Secretary until Gatete assumes his position.
Gatete, a seasoned economist, brings to the position extensive strategic leadership expertise, coupled with international experience in the political and financial landscape of the African continent, Guterres’s office said in a statement.
The newly appointed UNECA boss served in senior positions in the Rwandan government, notably as Minister of Infrastructure from 2018 to 2022 and Minister of Finance and Economic Planning from 2013 to 2018.
Gatete also served as Governor and Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Rwanda, and Secretary General and Secretary to the Treasury at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning in Rwanda.
He was Director General for Economic and Social Affairs in the Office of the President of Rwanda between 2000 and 2003, during which he served as the President’s Representative to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and Coordinator of the National African Peer Review Mechanism.
Gatete began his diplomatic career in 2005 and was based in London until 2009 as Rwanda’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Iceland.
Prior to this, he served as National Economist of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Kigali and Economist of Agriculture and Agri-Food and of Statistics Canada, in Ottawa, Canada.
Gatete holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in agricultural economics from the University of British Columbia in Canada.