President of the 42nd session of the General Conference
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Permanent Delegate of Romania to UNESCO
Amb. Simona-Mirela Miculescu has been serving as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Delegate of Romania to UNESCO since January 2021, after holding the position of Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the UN Office in Belgrade, between 2015 and 2020.
Prior to this, she was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Romania to the United Nations, between 2008 and 2015. During her term in New York, amb. Miculescu held several positions including: Vice-President of the UNICEF Executive Board, Vice-President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Vice-President of the Bureau of the Francophonie, Chair of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee of the General Assembly during its 66th Session, Vice-President of the UN General Assembly for its 68th Session, and Chair of the 53rd Session of the UN Commission for Social Development.
Amb. Miculescu’s 32 years of diplomatic career include the positions of Spokesperson for the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Senior Media Advisor to the Minister (1993 and 1999), Director of the Press Department within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1994 and 2008), Press Secretary of the Embassy of Romania to the US (1994-1998), or Senior Public Information Officer at the Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Kosovo (1999-2000).
Between 2000 and 2004, she served as Foreign Policy Adviser to the President of Romania (with rank of minister), becoming eventually the first woman in the Romanian diplomatic history to be granted the rank of Ambassador.
Between 2006 and 2007, she acted as Senior Advisor for Public Outreach to the Government of Iraq, within a USAID-funded project.
Amb. Miculescu holds the titles of Doctor Honoris Causa Beneficiorum Publicorum of the Western University in Timișoara, as well as the title of Doctor Magna Cum Laudae of the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca. In parallel with her diplomatic career, she has developed a rich academic and public communication experience, as well as the publication of several books and articles on related topics. In her country, she is recognized also as one of the best experts in the field of international public relations, being appreciated especially due to the elaboration of the first university curriculum on this subject, a study program currently used by several universities.
Amb. Simona-Mirela Miculescu is married and has two children.
General powers of the President
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.