79th session of the Commission

António Guterres, the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations, took office on 1st January 2017.

Having witnessed the suffering of the most vulnerable people on earth, in refugee camps and in war zones, the Secretary-General is determined to make human dignity the core of his work, and to serve as a peace broker, a bridge-builder and a promoter of reform and innovation.

Prior to his appointment as Secretary-General, Mr. Guterres served as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015,  heading one of the world’s foremost humanitarian organizations during some of the most serious displacement crises in decades. The conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and the crises in South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Yemen, led to a huge rise in UNHCR’s activities as the number of people displaced by conflict and persecution rose from 38 million in 2005 to over 60 million in 2015.

Before joining UNHCR, Mr. Guterres spent more than 20 years in government and public service. He served as prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, during which time he was heavily involved in the international effort to resolve the crisis in East Timor.

As president of the European Council in early 2000, he led the adoption of the Lisbon Agenda for growth and jobs, and co-chaired the first European Union-Africa summit. He was a member of the Portuguese Council of State from 1991 to 2002.

Mr. Guterres was elected to the Portuguese Parliament in 1976 where he served as a member for 17 years. During that time, he chaired the Parliamentary Committee for Economy, Finance and Planning, and later the Parliamentary Committee for Territorial Administration, Municipalities and Environment. He was also leader of his party’s parliamentary group.

From 1981 to 1983, Mr. Guterres was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where he chaired the Committee on Demography, Migration and Refugees.

For many years Mr. Guterres was active in the Socialist International, a worldwide organization of social democratic political parties. He was the group’s vice-president from 1992 to 1999, co-chairing the African Committee and later the Development Committee. He served as President from 1999 until mid-2005. In addition, he founded the Portuguese Refugee Council as well as the Portuguese Consumers Association DECO, and served as president of the Centro de Acção Social Universitário, an association carrying out social development projects in poor neighbourhoods of Lisbon, in the early 1970s.

Mr. Guterres is a member of the Club of Madrid, a leadership alliance of democratic former presidents and prime ministers from around the world.

Mr. Guterres was born in Lisbon in 1949 and graduated from the Instituto Superior Técnico with a degree in engineering. He is fluent in Portuguese, English, French and Spanish. He is married to Catarina de Almeida Vaz Pinto, Deputy Mayor for Culture of Lisbon, and has two children, a stepson and three grandchildren.

Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana was appointed Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) on 13 September 2018.

Prior to joining ESCAP, Ms. Alisjahbana was Professor of Economics at Universitas Padjadjaran in Bandung, Indonesia, a position she assumed in 2005. She joined Universitas Padjadjaran as a lecturer in 1988. Since 2016, she has served as Director for the Center for Sustainable Development Goals Studies at Universitas Padjadjaran and Vice Chair of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences.

She also serves on the Governing Board of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), and member of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (Akademi Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia - AIPI), the Forum of Statistics Community (Forum Masyarakat Statistik or Advisory Council of the Indonesian Statistics), the International Advisory Board of the Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies and Council Member of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI).

From 2009 to 2014, she was Minister of National Development Planning and the Head of the National Development Planning Agency (BAPPENAS), Indonesia. She served as Co-chair of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation from 2012 to 2014. From 2009 to 2014, she was Alternate Governor of the World Bank and Alternate Governor of the Asian Development Bank representing the government of Indonesia. In 2016, she was a member of the High Level Independent Team of Advisors to support the ECOSOC Dialogue on the longer term positioning of the United Nations Development System in the context of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.

Ms. Alisjahbana has been involved in various research projects and consultancies to the United Nations University/Institute for Advanced Study in Tokyo, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Australia, the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), the European Commission, and the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Ms. Alisjahbana earned her Bachelor degree in Economics and Development Studies from Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia, a Masters degree in Economics from Northwestern University, USA and a Ph.D in Economics from University of Washington, USA. She was awarded the Mahaputra Adipradana Order (Bintang Mahaputra Adipradana) from the Republic of Indonesia, honorary brevet from the Indonesian Navy and honorary flight wing from the Indonesian Air Force.

Born in Szeged (Hungary), 1958 

Professional career: 

Joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1983.  

Foreign posts: Tripoli (Libya), Abu Dhabi (UAE), Tel Aviv (Israel), Athens (Greece) New York (UN)  

Some former positions held:

Deputy State Secretary in charge of security policy, multilateral diplomacy and human rights

Vice-President of the UN General Assembly (2011-12)

Co-chair of the UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals  

Vice-Chair of Bureau of HABITAT III (2014)

Director for Environmental Sustainability, Office of the President of the Republic of Hungary  

Sherpa to the President of Hungary, at the High Level Panel on Water co-convened by the UN Secretary General and the President of the World Bank Group 

Education:  

Moscow Institute of International Relations  

University of Leeds (UK), Institute of International Relations,  

Hebrew University, Jerusalem, (Israel) Truman Institute for Middle East Studies

Harvard University (USA), Kennedy School of Government  

Languages (apart of mother tongue Hungarian): English, Arabic, French, Russian  

Decorations:

Order of Phoenix, Greece

Order of Merit, Poland

Order of Merit, Sovereign Maltese Order

Order of Merit, Hungary

Elizabeth Haub Award for Environmental Diplomacy (2015)

AfricaConnectOnline Award for Global Achievement established by the African and CARICOM Countries (2015)

Marital status:

Married to Edit Móra. They have one daughter, Lili Kőrösi

SHEIKH HASINA, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, was born on 28 September, 1947 at Tungipara under Gopalganj district. She is the eldest of five children of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founder of independent Bangladesh. 

She graduated from the University of Dhaka in 1973. She was elected Vice President of the Students Union of Government Intermediate Girl’s College. She was a member of the students League Unit of Dhaka University and Secretary of the Students League Unit of Rokeya Hall. She actively participated in all the mass movements since her student life. 

Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with the members of his family was martyred on the fateful night of 15 August 1975. Sheikh Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana were the only survivors as they were in West Germany at that time. Later she went to the United Kingdom from where she started her movement against the autocratic rule in 1980. Sheikh Hasina was unanimously elected President of Bangladesh Awami League in 1981 in her absence, while she was forced to live in exile in New Delhi. Ending six years in exile, she returned home finally on 17 May 1981. 

In the parliamentary election held in 1986, she won three seats. She was elected Leader of the Opposition. She led the historic mass movement in 1990 and announced the constitutional formula for peaceful transfer of power through Articles 51 and 56 of the Constitution. 

Following the election of 1991 Sheikh Hasina became Leader of the Opposition in the country’s Fifth Parliament, She steered all the political parties in the parliament towards changing the Presidential system into the Parliamentary one. 

Sheikh Hasina created awareness among the people and waged a struggle for Non-party Caretaker Government to ensure free and fair polls. Her movement reached the peak after a non-cooperation movement in March 1996 and the provision for Non-party Caretaker Government was incorporated in the Constitution. 

At the call of Sheikh Hasina a large number of people of all walks of life expressed solidarity with the movement at the ‘Janatar Mancha’. In the Parliamentary election held on 12 June 1996, Bangladesh Awami League emerged as the majority party and she assumed the office of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh on 23 June 1996. 

After becoming the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina adopted a number of pragmatic policies for overall development of the nation including poverty alleviation. During the last four years her government achieved laudable success including signing of the historic 30 year Ganges Water Sharing Treaty with India, signing of historic peace Accord on Chittagong Hill Tracts and inauguration of the Bangabandhu Bridge on the river Jamuna. 

She has authored several books including “Why Are They Street Children”, “The Origin of Autocracy”, ‘Miles to Go”, “Elimination of Poverty and Some Thoughts”, “People and Democracy”, “My Dream My Struggle” and “Development for the Masses.” She performed holy Hajj and Umrah several times. 

In 1996, the people of Bangladesh gave her a strong mandate as the Prime Minister of the country. Despite serious resource and constraints and recurrent natural calamity as well as widespread poverty, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, during the first two years of her government, has lived up to her unswerving commitment to the cause of peace, democracy, development and human rights. 

Her first act of peace within months of her assumption of office was the initiative for resolution of the long-standing water-sharing dispute with India through a 30-years treaty. This put an end to a very complex regional dispute. 

Her visionary idea of a business summit among the political and private sector leaders of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan has added a new chapter in the history of South Asia. 

Her dedicated leadership also made possible a peace agreement in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, thereby solving the 23-year old insurgency in the Hill districts of Bangladesh. This peace accord brought an area inhabited by nearly 5 million people out of violence and into a time of peace and development. Though the international media has not given much prominence to this accord, it is uniquely remarkable because the peace accord benefited such a large number of people and the whole area has been brought under development programs following the complete surrender of arms by the insurgents. 

Her quest for peace has taken her to India and Pakistan to talk to the leaders of these two countries soon after the nuclear test urging reduction of tension in the region. 

Prime Minister Hasina has been a strong advocate for the Culture of Peace at global, regional and national levels. In many major conferences, she espoused the concept of the Culture of Peace, most recently in South Africa at the 12th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) which has a membership of 114 countries. Her initiative has resulted in the first-ever resolution by the Plenary of the United Nations General Assembly on the Culture of Peace. She also provided leadership for the declaration by the UN of the period 2001 to 2010 as the International Decade for Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World. 

Prime Minister Hasina’s determination for the eradication of poverty, in particular through wide-ranging microcredit programmes, has been recognized world-wide. Her co-chairpersonship of the Microcredit Summit in February 1997 which resolved to bring 100 million families of the world out of poverty by 2005 focused world attention to her strong commitment to the eradication of poverty and enlistment of the poorest of the poor. She has been a champion of microcredit by spreading the message in major international forums. Her leadership led to the adoption for the first time by UN General Assembly a far-reaching resolution on the role of microcredit in the eradication of poverty. 

Along with poverty eradication, she has focused on the empowerment of women and has successfully completed legislation to ensure adequate representation of women in the local government bodies, leading to the election of more than 14,000 women to these bodies in 1997. She has taken major initiatives to stop violence against women and children. She has also provided leadership in the field of education, particularly for the education of girls in her own country as well as advocating it for global support. Her government has greatly enhanced budgetary allocation for primary education focusing on girls’ education. 

To improve the quality of life of the people of Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has particularly focused on human development, paying special attention to healthcare, family planning, nutrition, women’s rights and survival and development of children. At the UN and other forums, she has been a major voice in support of the cause of children and their rights. 

Her keen interest resulted in the signature by Bangladesh of the Statute for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and ratification of the Landmines Treaty, being the first country in South Asia to do so. 

Sheikh Hasina took oath as Prime Minister of Bangladesh at a ceremony held at Banghabhaban on January 06, 2009. 

Sheikh Hasina is married having one son and one daughter.

The Honourable Kausea Natano is the Prime Minister of Tuvalu. He was sworn in as Prime Minister of Tuvalu on the 19th September 2019. Honourable Kausea Natano first became a Member of Parliament in the year 2002 and was appointed Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, then re-elected for a second term as a Member of Parliament in 2007. That year, he was appointed as the Minister for Public Utilities and Industries. In 2010, Hon. Kausea Natano was re-elected for a third term in Parliament where he was appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Communication and Transport; and Minister for Public Utilities and Industries. Hon.Kausea has served as a Politician for over 18 years. Earlier in his career, Hon.Kausea Natano served in the Customs Department and later became the Director of Customs and Inland Revenue. He also served as Acting Assistant Secretary for the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and held the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors for the National Bank of Tuvalu.

Hon.Kausea Natano is an Alumni of the University of the South Pacific and was one of the few students that attended King George V Secondary School in Kiribati while Tuvalu was still under the Colony of Gilbert and Ellice Islands. He was born on 5th July 1957, married to Mrs Selepa Kausea Natano and have a daughter and three boys.

Jeffrey D. Sachs is a world-renowned economics professor, bestselling author, innovative educator, and global leader in sustainable development. He is widely recognized for bold and effective strategies to address complex challenges including debt crises, hyperinflations, the transition from central planning to market economies, the control of AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, the escape from extreme poverty, and the battle against human-induced climate change. 

Sachs serves as the Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he holds the rank of University Professor, the university’s highest academic rank. Sachs held the position of Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University from 2002 to 2016. He is President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, a commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development, and an SDG Advocate for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. From 2001-18, Sachs served as Special Advisor to UN Secretaries-General Kofi Annan (2001-7), Ban Ki-moon (2008-16), and António Guterres (2017-18). 

Sachs has authored and edited numerous books, including three New York Times bestsellers: The End of Poverty (2005), Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet (2008), and The Price of Civilization (2011). Other books include To Move the World: JFK’s Quest for Peace (2013), The Age of Sustainable Development (2015), Building the New American Economy: Smart, Fair & Sustainable (2017), A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism (2018), and most recently, The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions (2020). 

Sachs was the co-recipient of the 2015 Blue Planet Prize, the leading global prize for environmental leadership. He was twice named among Time magazine’s 100 most influential world leaders and has received 32 honorary doctorate degrees. The New York Times called Sachs “probably the most important economist in the world,” and Time magazine called Sachs “the world’s best-known economist.” A survey by The Economist ranked Sachs as among the three most influential living economists. 

Prior to joining Columbia, Sachs spent over twenty years as a professor at Harvard University, most recently as the Galen L. Stone Professor of International Trade. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Sachs received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at Harvard. 

A champion for sustainable development, ESG investment, digital transformation and the Green Economy, Dr. Lam is Chair of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Sustainable Business Network (ESBN), and the ESBN Task Force on Sustainable and Inclusive Finance.  He is a member of the Governance Committee of the Hong Kong Growth Portfolio, and the Development Bureau Common Spatial Data Advisory Committee, of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, and Convenor of the Panel of Advisors on Building Management Disputes of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Home Affairs Department. He is also a member of the Court of the City University of Hong Kong and the Belt and Road and Greater Bay Area Committee of the Hong Kong Trade and Development Council (HKTDC), Vice Chairman of Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC), Chairman of the Permanent Commission on Economic and Financial Issues of the World Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (WUSME), and President of Hong Kong-ASEAN Economic Cooperation Foundation. 

Dr. Lam earlier served as Chairman of Hong Kong Cyberport, Hong Kong's digital technology flagship and global innovation hub.  He was a member of the Committee on Innovation, Technology and Re-Industrialization, the Sir Murray MacLehose Trust Fund Investment Advisory Committee, and the Central Policy Unit, of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.  A former member of the Hong Kong Bar, Dr. Lam is a Solicitor of the High Court of Hong Kong, an Accredited Mediator of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR), a Fellow of Certified Management Accountants (CMA) Australia, the Hong Kong Institute of Arbitrators, the Hong Kong Institute of Directors and the Institute of Corporate Directors Malaysia (ICDM), an Honorary Fellow of Certified Public Accountants (CPA) Australia, the Hong Kong Institute of Facility Management and the University of Hong Kong School of Professional and Continuing Education, and a Distinguished Fellow of the Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Development Alliance (HKITDA).  In 2019, Dr. Lam was awarded by the Hong Kong Government a Bronze Bauhinia Star (BBS) for serving the public.

Sunita Narain has been with the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) since 1982. She is currently the director general of the Centre and the treasurer of the Society for Environmental Communications and editor of the fortnightly magazine, Down To Earth. 

She is a writer and environmentalist, who uses knowledge for change. In 2005 she was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian government. She has also received the World Water Prize for work on rainwater harvesting and for its policy influence in building paradigms for community based water management. In 2005, she also chaired the Tiger Task Force at the direction of the Prime Minister, to evolve an action plan for conservation in the country after the loss of tigers in Sariska. She advocated solutions to build a coexistence agenda with local communities so that benefits of conservation could be shared and the future secured. Narain was a member of the Prime Minister's Council for Climate Change as well as the National Ganga River Basin Authority. 

Narain began her work in the early 1980s, as a co-researcher with Anil Agarwal, an eminent and committed environmentalist who gave the country its environmental concern and message. In 1985, she co-edited the State of India's Environment report, which built an understanding in the country on why India is so important for the poor. With Anil Agarwal she learnt that environment and development are two sides of the same coin and that for the millions of poor, who live on the margins of subsistence, it a matter of survival. In 1989, learning from the successful initiatives of people to manage their environment, Anil Agarwal and she wrote Towards Green Villages advocating local participatory democracy as the key to sustainable development. She has continued to research and write about how environment must become the basis of livelihood security of people in the country. She has also linked issues of local democracy with global democracy, arguing that every human being has an entitlement to the global atmospheric common. In 2012, she has authored the 7th State of India's Environment Reports, Excreta Matters, which presents a comprehensive analysis of urban India's water and pollution challenges. 

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on 15 August 2022 the appointment of Simon Stiell of Grenada as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).  The appointment has been made after consultation with the Conference of Parties through its Bureau.  

He will succeed Patricia Espinosa of Mexico to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her commitment and dedicated service to the Organization.  The Secretary-General also wishes to extend his appreciation to the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Ibrahim Thiaw, who will continue to serve as Acting Executive Secretary of UNFCCC until Mr. Stiell assumes this position.  

Mr. Stiell, a true champion for formulating creative approaches for our collective global response to the climate crisis, brings to the position a unique skillset developed over a thirty-three year career, coupled with vast experience in bilateral, regional and multilateral affairs.  

Mr. Stiell served as senior minister in the Government of Grenada from 2013 through June 2022, holding the portfolio of Minister for Climate Resilience and the Environment for five years.  He previously served as Minister for Education and Human Resource Development, Minister of State with responsibility for human resource development and the environment and as a Parliamentary Secretary within the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Forestry and Fisheries.  He also served as a member of Grenada’s Upper House of Parliament, the Senate, where he served as Leader of Government Business.  

Prior to joining government, Mr. Stiell’s career spanned some fourteen years within the technology sector, holding senior executive positions in a number of industry leading companies, from Silicon Valley based technology start-ups to major corporations, including Nokia and GEC Plessey Telecommunications.  

Mr. Stiell originally trained as an engineer at London Metropolitan University and College of North West London, and holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Westminster in the United Kingdom. 

Mr Henry Puna is the 10th Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum. 

He is the first Cook Islander to hold this post. 

The Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General is responsible, in close consultation with the Forum Chair and within the limits set by the Forum Leaders from time to time, for setting Forum Leaders’ Meeting agendas and coordinating responses by members to regional events, particularly crises. The Secretary General also performs several other key functions which include being the Pacific Ocean Commissioner. As the Pacific Ocean Commissioner, the Secretary General advocates for the secure future of Pacific people based on the sustainable development, management and conservation of the Pacific Ocean and its resources. 

Prior to taking up the regional role on May 24th, 2021, Secretary General Puna was Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, from November 2010 until October 2020. 

Born in Aitutaki in 1949 and raised in Rarotonga, he spent his formative years witnessing the transition to self-governance for his nation. He was one of the first wave of Cook Islands solicitors, starting at Auckland University then the University of Tasmania, obtaining a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1979. He is an alumnus of Australia National University in Canberra and was admitted to the bar in September 1980. 

Secretary General Puna’s formative years combined with his return to atoll life as a pearl farmer and parliamentarian, supplied rich insights and lived knowledge of the resilience and resourcefulness of small island communities bearing the brunt of climate change across the Blue Pacific. 

Holding portfolios including Foreign Affairs and Immigration, Marine Resources, Energy and Renewable Energy, Climate Change, Tourism, and the Outer Islands, Puna steered his nation on a path which has earned the Cook Islands global recognition for Oceans sustainability and renewable energy. 

As the Cook Islands Foreign Affairs Minister and Leader, he pursued a more vigorous level of international diplomacy for the Cook Islands, extending foreign relations and formal ties to more than 50 nations including the People’s Republic of China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, and Singapore. 

Before politics, between 1989 and 1996, Mr Puna served on the board of the South Pacific Ports Association, and the Pacific Forum Line. His executive roles in national government heading Trade, Labour and Transport as well as operating within the constraints facing regional shipping and transportation strengthened his affinity for the hardships and vulnerabilities of connecting remote atoll-based communities across ocean states. 

A key focus in his early years as Prime Minister was transforming access to energy across all inhabited islands of the Cooks. His championing of renewable, clean energy and support ensured the bilateral and global funding partnerships for a successful transition to solar energy, breaking the monopoly of fossil fuel. 

At the international level, as the 43rd Forum Chair and host of the 2012 meetings and Leaders Retreat, he invited former US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to a milestone meeting with Forum Leaders, who renewed their commitment to address human rights for women, through a new Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration. 
In 2016, in recognition of his service to the region and academia, he received an honorary Doctorate in Law from the University of the South Pacific, Fiji, and served as Chancellor of the University from 2017-2018. 

As a Forum Leader championing climate change, tuna fisheries, and innovative partnerships for oceans and energy sustainability, a landmark global achievement has been the 2017 founding legislation establishing the world’s largest multiple-use marine park, the Marae Moana. 

Henry Puna is 71 in 2021, and an avid golfer and fisher. He is married to Cook Islands Member of Parliament for Manihiki, Akaiti Puna. 

Born in June 1957 in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, graduated from the Faculty of Asian and African Languages of the Beijing University of Foreign Studies, has a Bachelor of Arts degree. 

Since 1983, he has worked in the Department of West Asian and North African Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, at the Chinese Embassy in P.D.R. Yemen, and at the Chinese Embassy in the Sultanate of Oman.

1992-1997 Deputy Director of the Department of West Asian and North African Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China; 
1997-2001 First Secretary, Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in the State of Israel; 
2001-2006 Deputy Director-General of the General Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China; 
2006-2009 Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of China to the Republic of Kenya, Permanent Representative to UNEP and Permanent Representative to UN-Habitat; 
2009-2010 Director-General of the Department of African Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China; 
2010-2011 Director-General of the General Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China; 
2011-2013 Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs of China; 
2013-2017 Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of China; 
2017-2021 Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Head of the Chinese Mission to the European Union; 
2022 — Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. 

Married, has a son. 

The Secretary General of the ECO is elected and appointed by the Council of Ministers from among the candidates nominated by the Member States on the basis of qualifications, experience and suitability as laid down in the Staff Regulations of the ECO Secretariat. As the Chief Administrative Officer of the Organization, Secretary General is responsible for all activities of the Organization. The Secretary General is discharging his duties over a non-renewable three-year terms of office.

H.E. Amb. Khusrav NOZIRI (Tajikistan national) is ECO Secretary General. He is the 13th Secretary General of the ECO who started his tenure in August 2021.

H.E. Esala Ruwan Weerakoon of Sri Lanka assumed office of the Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) on 01 March 2020.  

Prior to assuming the post of Secretary General, Weerakoon served as Senior Additional Secretary to the President of Sri Lanka. Previously, he was Foreign Secretary of Sri Lanka. He had also served as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India and Ambassador to Norway.

During his diplomatic career spanning over 30 years, Weerakoon served as Sri Lanka’s Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington DC; Chargé d’Affaires in Japan; and Deputy High Commissioner to Australia. His diplomatic postings included assignments in different capacities in Sri Lanka’s Missions in the United Kingdom, France, Malaysia and Seychelles. He joined the Sri Lanka Foreign Service as a probationer in 1988.

Apart from working in different Divisions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, Weerakoon served as Secretary, Ministry of Tourism Development; Additional Secretary, Ministry of Economic Development; and Additional Secretary, Ministry of Housing.

Weerakoon was educated at Royal College, Colombo. He studied economics at the University of Kelaniya and undertook post-graduate studies at the London School of Economics.  

H. E. Mr. Tenzin Lekphell took up the position of the Secretary General of BIMSTEC on 06 November 2020.

After graduation, Mr. Lekphell started his career as a militia officer in the capacity of a Lieutenant (1990-2004) at the Royal Bhutan Army. Thereon, he joined the Bhutanese civil service, where he served for more than a decade (1994-2007) before he resigned to participate in Bhutan’s historic democratic elections of 2013 and 2018. Earlier, he served as the Chief Labour Officer, Ministry of Labour and Human Resources from 1999 – 2007 and Planning Officer, Ministry of Agriculture from 1994-1998. Being the founding leader and the Secretary General, H. E. Mr. Tenzin Lekphell, subsequently became the Advisor and Executive Member of the third political party of Bhutan, Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT), which is the present ruling party of the Kingdom of Bhutan.

He was the founder of Institute for Management Studies (IMS), first private management training institute of Bhutan and served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Institute from 2009 – 2017. He also launched several private ventures that have enabled creation of employment for numerous Bhutanese youth. Mr. Lekphell spearheaded several national projects in Bhutan, i.e., NATION IN PRAYER (2019 – 2020), TENDREL (2016).

In 2016, Mr. Lekphell achieved Global Environment Leader Award from Global Environment Foundation, New Delhi, for the initiative TENDREL- planting of 108,000 trees to welcome the birth of the first Prince. In 2003, he received Druk Yugyel Medal from His Majesty the King for gallantry following the military service to the nation.

Mr. Lekphell holds a Masters Degree in Science (Agriculture Economics) from London University, United Kingdom and Bachelors in Science from Sherubtse College, affiliated to Delhi University, India.

H. E. Mr. Tenzin Lekphell is married to Mrs. Chokey Yangzom and blessed with three children.

Position

Secretary-General

Academic Background

1996 – 1997 MIPP, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, Washington D.C., USA

Career

1989 – 1990 Staff member, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)
1990 – 1993 Staff member, Attaché, Department of African Affairs, MFA
1993 – 1996 Attaché, Third Secretary, Chinese Embassy in Uganda
1996 – 2000 Third Secretary, Deputy Section Director, Section Director,
Department of African Affairs, MFA
2000 – 2001 Deputy Secretary, CPC Committee of Xincheng District, 
Xi’an Municipality, Shaanxi Province
2001 – 2003 Counselor, Information Department, MFA
2003 – 2007 Political Counselor, Chinese Embassy in Australia
2007 – 2008 Counselor, Policy Planning Department, MFA
2008 – 2012 Deputy Director-General, General Office, MFA
2012 – 2017 Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of China to Grenada
2017 – 2021 Vice President, Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs
2021 – Present Secretary-General, Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat

Mr Nawadra holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Canberra and a Masters of Environmental Management from the Imperial College, University of London. He takes over SPREP’s top job from his previous role as the Head of the UNEP Sub-regional office for the Pacific. He has worked as SPREP’s Marine Pollution Adviser and the Director for the Environment Monitoring and Governance Division. He also worked as Conservation International’s Fiji Country Director; Environment Director (Pacific) of Sinclair Knight Merz Engineering Consultants; Health Safety and Environment Manager for Shell Pacific Islands Limited; and several senior technical positions within the Fiji Government’s Environment and Agriculture Departments.

He is from the village of Naivuruvuru, district of Verata in the province of Tailevu, with maternal links to the village of Vuna on the island of Taveuni. He is married to Talica and they have four children – two boys and two girls.