RCP: Europe and Central Asia

Ms. Amina J. Mohammed is the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group.

Prior to her appointment, Ms. Mohammed served as Minister of Environment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria where she steered the country’s efforts on climate action and efforts to protect the natural environment.

Ms. Mohammed first joined the United Nations in 2012 as Special Adviser to former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with the responsibility for post-2015 development planning. She led the process that resulted in global agreement around the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the creation of the Sustainable Development Goals.  

Ms. Mohammed began her career working on the design of schools and hospitals in Nigeria. She served as an advocate focused on increasing access to education and other social services, before moving into the public sector, where she rose to the position of adviser to four successive Presidents on poverty, public sector reform, and sustainable development.

Ms. Mohammed has been conferred several honorary doctorates and has served as an adjunct professor, lecturing on international development. The recipient of various global awards, Ms. Mohammed has served on numerous international advisory boards and panels. She is the mother of six children and has four grandchildren.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on 26 July 2023 the appointment of Tatiana Molcean of Moldova as the next Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE).  She will succeed Olga Algayerova of Slovakia, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her commitment and dedicated service to the Organization.

Ms. Molcean brings to the position twenty years of experience in the public sector with extensive international cooperation and development experience, and in-depth knowledge and expertise across the entire ECE membership.  She is currently the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Moldova to the United Nations Office, World Trade Organization and other international organizations in Geneva.

She served as State Secretary and Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Bilateral Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (2017-2020), Deputy Director General for European Integration and Head of the Division for Economic and Sector Cooperation with the European Union (2012-2017) and Head of the Division for Economic Cooperation and Sectorial Coordination at the General Directorate for European Integration (2004-2008).  A career diplomat, she has also served as Chargé d’Affaires at the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova to Sweden (2008-2011).

Ms. Molcean holds a LLM Degree in Law from the Faculty of International Law at Moldova State University and completed the Multilateral Diplomacy Program from the Graduate Institute of Geneva, Switzerland.  She is fluent in Romanian, English and Russian, with advanced knowledge of French.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on 9 September 2022 the appointment of Ivana Živković of Croatia as Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator and Director, Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).  Ms Živković succeeds Mirjana Spoljaric Egger of Switzerland who has been elected as the new President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her commitment and dedicated service to the United Nations.  

Ms. Živković is a senior Croatian diplomat, currently serving as the Director-General for Economic Affairs and Development Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia.  She has held a number of positions in the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Croatia and had a leading role in setting up the framework for international development cooperation in Croatia. 

She holds a master’s degree in International Economics from the Faculty of Economics, University of Zagreb and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Zagreb.