President - 41st session

A career diplomat, the President of the 41sr General Conference, Ambassador Santiago Irazabal Mourão, has long experience in multilateralism, notably in the field of disarmament and sensitive technologies. Prior to his appointment as Permanent Delegate of Brazil to UNESCO in 2019, he was Deputy Secretary-General for International Cooperation, Trade Promotion and Cultural Affairs in Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was also posted to Embassies in the United States, Iran, Paraguay and the Mission to the United Nations in New York. Ambassador Mourão is graduated in Law from the Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay and holds a postgraduate degree from the Rio Branco Institute (advanced school of diplomacy), Brasilia, Brazil.

The President shall declare the opening and closing of each plenary meeting of the Conference. He/She shall direct the discussions, ensure observance of these Rules, accord the right to speak, put questions to the vote and announce decisions. He/She shall rule on points of order and, subject to the present Rules, shall control the proceedings and the maintenance of order. The President may, in the course of the discussion of an item, propose to the Conference the limitation of the time to be allowed to speakers, the limitation of the number of times each speaker may speak, the closure of the list of speakers or the closure of the debate. He/She may also propose the suspension or adjournment of the meeting or the adjournment of the debate on the item under discussion. The President shall not vote, but may designate a member of his/her delegation to vote in his/her place. The President, in the exercise of his/her functions, remains under the authority of the General Conference. The President of the General Conference shall sit ex officio in an advisory capacity on the Executive Board.