United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced the appointment of Jorge Moreira da Silva of Portugal as Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
The Secretary-General wishes to extend his appreciation and gratitude to Jens Wandel of Denmark, for his service as Acting Executive Director.
Mr. Moreira da Silva is currently a Visiting Full Professor at the Faculty of Engineering of Oporto University and an Adjunct Professor at the Paris School of International Affairs (Sciences Po).
He was most recently Director of the Development Co-operation Directorate of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris (2016-2022), where he successfully launched and led a restructuring of the Directorate with the objective of boosting horizontality, collaboration and co-creation. As Head of the Secretariat of the Development Assistance Committee, he anchored the formulation of new standards on development cooperation and humanitarian aid.
Before joining OECD, Mr. Moreira da Silva was the Minister for Environment, Energy and Spatial Planning of Portugal from 2013 to 2015 and Visiting Full Professor at the Lisbon University. Prior to his ministerial position, he served as Senior Environmental Finance Adviser and Programme Manager on Climate Change Innovative Finance at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2009-2012); Senior Adviser to the President of Portugal on Science and Environment (2006-2009); Secretary of State for Environment and Spatial Planning (2004-2005); Secretary of State for Science and Higher Education (2003-2004); and Member of the Portuguese Parliament and Member of the European Parliament (1999-2003), where he authored the legislation that created the European Union Green House Gas Emissions Trading Scheme.
Mr. Moreira da Silva graduated from the University of Porto, Portugal, with a degree in electrical and computer engineering and holds a postgraduate degree in senior management from the AESE-IESE Business School, Navarra University, Spain.
He is fluent in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.
Source: United Nations (Press Release)
António Guterres is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who currently serves as the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations. He was appointed to this position on January 1, 2017, succeeding Ban Ki-moon. Before his appointment as Secretary-General, Guterres served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from 2005 to 2015, during which time he oversaw the agency’s response to some of the world’s worst refugee crises, including the Syrian refugee crisis. Guterres also has extensive political experience in Portugal, having served as the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002. Hd is the first former head of government to become the United Nations Secretary-General, and the first secretary-general born after the establishment of the United Nations.
