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MICHEL JARRAUD APPOINTED SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
Geneva, 15 May 2003 - The Fourteenth World Meteorological Congress (Geneva, Switzerland, 5 to 24 May 2003) yesterday evening appointed Mr Michel Jarraud (France) Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) for a four-year mandate starting 1 January 2004.
Mr Jarraud was appointed after receiving a more than two-thirds majority vote, followed by warm applause. Mr Jarraud has been Deputy Secretary-General of WMO since 1995.
In his statement of acceptance, Mr Jarraud expressed his thanks to WMO Members for the confidence placed in him and looked forward to their support in dealing together with the many challenges of the future. Among others, he mentioned natural disaster prevention and mitigation; climate change and its impacts; the development of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs); hydrology and water resources; sustainable development and the growing gap between the NMHSs of the developed and developing world, including the Least Developed Countries and the Small Island Developing States. He pledged to enhance synergy among the constituent bodies of WMO, the network of relevant international programmes and organizations, and NMHSs to ensure a leadership role for WMO in addressing the many weather-, water- and climate-related issues facing humanity. He said that the Secretariat staff were a vital resource for WMO to address these challenges. He promised to continue to build on the solid foundations laid by the current Secretary-General of WMO, Prof. G.O.P. Obasi (Nigeria).
Prof. Obasi stated that Mr Jarraud had all the qualities for the type of leadership that the Organization needed at this time, with knowledge of meteorology, hydrology and related sciences, and experience in operational aspects at the national, regional and international levels. The position of Secretary-General provided many opportunities to realize the purposes and goals of the Organization; to advance the science of meteorology, hydrology and related disciplines; to ensure their application for the benefit of society and to enable the fields of interest of WMO to be better appreciated and applied for socio-economic development. He added that the Secretariat staff with its high professionalism was a valuable asset for achieving those goals.
Before joining WMO as Deputy Secretary-General in January 1995, Mr Jarraud devoted part of his career to the internationally renowned European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). He was appointed Deputy Director of the Centre in 1991 having been Director of the Operational Department since 1990. From September 1978 to December 1985, he was a researcher in numerical weather prediction at the ECMWF. Mr Jarraud started his career with Météo-France, as a researcher (September 1976 - August 1978). He joined the French National Meteorological Service again in January 1986 as Director of the Weather Forecasting Department, until December 1989.
Mr Jarraud is a meteorologist with degrees from the prestigious French Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole de la Météorologie Nationale.
Mr Jarraud is a member of the American Meteorological Society (USA), the Société Météorologique de France, the Royal Meteorological Society (United Kingdom) and the African Meteorological Society. He was also awarded a First Class Distinction (highest grade) by the Civil Defence of Venezuela, in recognition of services in relation to natural disasters which affected the country in 1999.
Mr Jarraud is fluent in French and English and also speaks German. He was born in 1952 in Châtillon-sur-Indre, France. He is married and is the father of two children.
Mr Jarraud will succeed Prof. Godwin O. P. Obasi, Secretary-General of WMO from 1 January 1984 and until 31 December 2003. Former Secretaries-General of WMO were: Prof. Axel C. Wiin-Nielsen from Denmark (1979-1983), the late Sir Arthur Davies from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1955-1979), and Dr G. Swoboda from Switzerland (1951-1955).
The Congress - WMO's supreme body - brings together every four years the representatives of the Organization's 187 Members to determine the general policies and approve the long-term plan of WMO, to appoint the Secretary-General, elect officers and decide on budgetary and other programme matters.
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A photograph of the newly elected Secretary-General is available at the WMO website at the following address: http://www.wmo.ch/congress/
WMO is the United Nations' authoritative voice on weather, water and climate.
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