Zimbabwe's Minister Nominated Secreatary General of World Tourism Organisation

Dr Walter Mzembi  African nations have nominated  Zimbabwe's, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister, Dr Walter Mzembi, as their candidate to become the new head of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation ,UN - WTO. Should Mzembi get this post, it will be the first time in the organisation’s 43-year history that an African would head the organisation. Speaking during the UN General Assembly in New York, Africa’s longest-serving tourism minister stated  that he was humbled and privileged to have been chosen by the Government of Zimbabwe, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) as the continent’s candidate. “Since the establishment of the UN -WTO in 1974, no African has ever become its Secretary General. Almost all the geographical areas of the world have produced a secretary-general, except Africa. In fact in 42 years, three secretaries-general have come from Europe, while one each has come from the Americas and Asia. I am therefore delighted to be representing my region as the continent’s united candidate”. If elected, Mzembi will come on board in 2017, during the “International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development”. Globally, his said that his plan would be to align the three tourism-specific Sustainable Development Goals on ‘decent work and economic growth’; ‘responsible consumption and production’; and ‘life below water’.  Regionally, he said that he would further embed tourism’s intervention in the African Union’s Agenda 2063. A former member of the UN-WTO’s Executive Council, and current chairman of the UN-WTO’s Commission for Africa, Mzembi was instrumental in convening the 20th UN-WTO General Assembly in 2013.  This global conference, which was hosted jointly by Zimbabwe and Zambia, was described by the current Secretary General, Dr Taleb Rifai, as “the best attended ever” in the history of the organisation.  Rifai, a Jordanian national, retires next year. Tourism remains one of Africa’s most important strategic sectors, both in terms of employment, foreign exchange revenues as well as opening up the continent and its opportunities to the world.