UN trade agency hunts for executive to replace Kituyi

Dr Mukhisa Kituyi (PHOTO: FILE)

The race to find a successor for Mukhisa Kituyi at the top United Nations (UN) trade body has started.

Dr Kituyi last week informed UN Secretary-General António Guterres that he would resign from his position as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary-General on February 15, 2021.

Kituyi is a former two-time Kimilili MP who also served as Trade Minister in President Mwai Kibaki’s administration between 2002 and 2007.

The Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD Ms Isabelle Durant of Belgium will be appointed acting Secretary-General.

This is as UN Secretary-General António Guterres launches a recruitment process, in consultation with the Member States, to find a successor to Kituyi.

Kituyi’s tenure at UNCTAD is credited with work on trade, investment, finance and technology, offering solutions to challenges facing developing countries.

“The Secretary-General is grateful for Kituyi’s service and his commitment for the remainder of his term to the functions entrusted to him as an international civil servant of the UN,” Guterres said in a statement.

Kituyi has headed UNCTAD since 2013, and was re-appointed in 2017 after serving an initial four-year term.