United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has named former Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister Natalia Gherman as the head of the UN Regional Center for Preventative Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA).
Guterres announced in a statement on September 15 that Gherman, 48, will succeed Bulgaria's Petko Draganov, whose term ended on September 4.
Gherman served as Moldova's minister of foreign affairs and European integration from 2013 until 2016. She was briefly acting prime minister in 2015. From 2009 until 2013, she was Moldova's chief negotiator for the country's Association Agreement with the European Union.
In February 2016, she was nominated as Moldova's candidate to succeed Ban Ki-moon as UN secretary-general.
Her father, Mircea Snegur, served as the first president of Moldova following its independence from the Soviet Union from 1991 until 1997.