On 23 March 2012, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon selected Carlos Lopes of Guinea-Bissau as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
Mr. Lopes succeeds Abdoulie Janneh, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his dedication and commitment to the Organization and his leadership of ECA at a critical juncture of its work in the region.
He brings to the position more than 24 years of experience at the United Nations as United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative in Brazil and Zimbabwe. A member of several African academic networks, as well as a strategist and socio-economist, Mr. Lopes has vast experience in capacity-building and technical cooperation on the continent, and intends to focus on building consensus among the various stakeholders to ensure that ECA is a key player in the economic and social development agenda for Africa.
Mr. Lopes was most recently the Executive Director of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research and Director of the United Nations System Staff College.