Rebeca new Secy-Gen of UNCTAD

Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica will be the new Secretary-General of UNCTAD, the trade and development body of the United Nations.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres approved her nomination for the post at the UN General Assembly.

Grynspan is an economist and current Ibero-American secretary-general. She is also the first woman and Central American to be appointed as secretary-general of UNCTAD.

Grynspan has had a career spanning many years and has held several high-level positions, including, among others, former under-secretary-general of UN and Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

She has also served as the UNDP regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, a member of the High-level Panel on Financing for Development, and vice president of Costa Rica (1994 to 1998).