UN Secretary-General appoints Arancha González of Spain as Executive Director of ITC

(New York and Geneva) United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today (15 August) announced the appointment of Arancha González of Spain as Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (ITC), the joint agency of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and World Trade Organization (WTO) for trade and international business development.

On 1 September, she will succeed Patricia Francis of Jamaica, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her dedicated service to ITC and the United Nations.

Ms. González brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the ITC coupled with extensive public and private sector experience in trade and development matters, as well as in management of multilateral organizations. She will play an important role in further developing the ITC, whose mission is to help promote exports of developing countries and countries in transition.

Ms. González has served as Chief of Staff at the WTO for the last eight years. She has been intimately involved in setting up the WTO's Aid for Trade initiative and served as WTO Director-General's representative (Sherpa) at the G-20. She has also served in various capacities in the European Commission where she held several positions in the area of international trade, including negotiations of trade agreements, assisting developing countries in benefiting from trading opportunities and as European Commission Spokeswoman for Trade. Ms. González began her career in the private sector advising companies on trade, competition and state-aid matters.

Ms. González holds a degree in law from the University of Navarra and a post graduate degree in European Law from the University of Carlos III, Madrid.

ITC is the joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations. ITC assists small and medium-sized enterprises in developing and transition economy countries to become more competitive in global markets, contributing to sustainable economic development within the frameworks of the Aid for Trade agenda and the Millennium Development Goals.

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A French version of this press release can be read here.

A Spanish version of this press release can be read here.