The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) confirmed today in a “Note Verbale” that 8 applications from candidates competing for the post of UNWTO Secretary-General were received.
The UNWTO Secretariat said that 6 applicants did not include the required documentation and, therefore, did not comply with procedures.
That currently leaves this race to just two candidates:
Ms. Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Alkhalifa from the Kingdom of Bahrain
Mr. Zurab Pololikashvili from Georgia
Despite making a meeting impossible for some and difficult for others, Mr. Pololikashvili, the current Secretary-General, still insists on having the 113th session of the Executive Council to be held on January 18-19 in Madrid, Spain. In September, the same Secretary-General argued at the 112th session of the Executive Council meeting in his home country of Georgia that a January meeting would be easiest to coincide with FITUR, a yearly international travel trade show in Madrid.
Just a week after the Georgia meeting, FITUR was postponed to May 19-23, 2021 due to the COVID lockdown in Spain. If the meeting was to remain in January, Executive Council members would not be able to send their ministers to such a meeting safely, leaving the vote in the hands of embassy staff.
Mr. Pololikashvili was the Georgian ambassador to Spain and is well connected in the diplomatic community in Madrid. This is a clear disadvantage for Ms. Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Alkhalifa from the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Mr. Pololikashvili has shown already his intention was to make competition difficult if not impossible in moving the election to January 2021 and the deadline for new candidates to register from January 2021 to November 2020. A fair solution would have been to give more and not less time during a global pandemic.
It’s now in the hands of the following countries to appeal to the current UNWTO Secretary-General to reverse the move of the 113th Executive Council meeting to allow a physical meeting to take place and for the competing candidate from Bahrain to prepare herself and lobby for her election. With the holiday season approaching, such a preparation to attend a meeting during a COVID-19 lockdown could be seen as a selfish abuse of power by Mr. Pololikashvili.
FITUR was the reason the meeting was pushed to January. Since FITUR is now in May, why couldn’t the Executive Council meeting dates be adjusted? The answer is obvious, and a UN-affiliated agency should be neutral and not take the interest of one country over another.
Tags: UNWTO
