The Argentine Celeste Saulo, director of the National Meteorological Service (SMN), will be the first woman elected as secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the position of greatest relevance at the global level in terms of weather, climate and water, after her election in the first round this Thursday in Geneva, official sources of the international organization and the National Meteorological Service reported.
The Argentine scientist thus becomes the first woman in history to occupy the General Secretariat and also the first Latin American person, which places the country and the region in a new strategic role.
Saulo, 59, has headed Argentina's meteorological agency since 2014 and will take up his duties as WMO secretary-general on Jan. 1, 2024, replacing Finland's Petteri Taalas, the organization said in a statement.
This UN agency has a key role in monitoring and anticipating the effects of climate change.
Saulo won the two-thirds majority required to win the election, with 108 votes, against candidates from China, Switzerland and Curaçao.
According to the AFP news agency, a total of four candidates were in the race to replace Taalas, who after two terms could not run again.
In addition to Saul, the current number two of the WMO, the Russian-Swiss Elena Elena Manaenkova; the number three of the organization, the Chinese Zhang Wenjian; and Second Vice President Albert Martis, originally from Curaçao.
Saul was already the first vice-president of WMO.
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