United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres confirmed the appointment of Natalia Gherman of the Republic of Moldova as Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED), following the concurrence of the Security Council. 
 
She will succeed Michèle Coninsx of Belgium, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her commitment and dedicated service to the Organization.  The Secretary-General also wishes to extend his appreciation to the Deputy Executive Director, Head of Assessment and Technical Assistance Office of CTED, Weixiong Chen, who will continue to serve as Acting Executive Director of CTED until Ms. Gherman assumes this position.
 
Currently the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA) (since 2017),  Ms. Gherman brings 30 years of experience in senior leadership and consensus building, consolidating trust and mutual understanding between regional and national states, including through the convening of dialogue platforms between Governments, Parliaments, civil society, private sector and international partners in a multicultural environment.  She is an expert in regional and global security affairs, promoting peace through justice, sustainable development and rule of law, while implementing programmatic activities to prevent and counter the threats of international terrorism and extremism, organized crime and environmental degradation.
 
A career diplomat, Ms. Gherman served in various high-level governmental positions, including as Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova (2013-2016) while concurrently serving as Deputy Prime Minister and Acting Prime Minister in 2015.  She was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (2009-2013) while also serving as Chief Negotiator on behalf of the Republic of Moldova for the Association Agreement with the European Union.  She served as Ambassador to Austria and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Agencies in Vienna and to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and established the diplomatic presence of her country in the Nordic region, having served as first resident Moldovan Ambassador to Sweden, Norway and Finland.
 
Ms. Gherman holds a Bachelor of Arts from the State University of the Republic of Moldova and Master of Arts in War Studies from King’s College, University of London and speaks Romanian, English, Russian, French and German.