According to confidential and reliable eTN sources, the current ambassador for Colombia to Austria, Jaime Alberto Cabal Sancelemnte entered the race to become the next UNWTO Secretary General.
Another candidate from Armenia also submitted papers. Details are not yet known, and the names had not been confirmed by UNWTO.
The Colombian candidate Ambassador Jaime Alberto Cabal Sancelemnte is holding an industrial Engineer of the Javeriana University of Bogotá. With a degree in English and Economics at Georgetown University and a Master’s degree in Economics at The American University in Washington DC he also holds postgraduate studies in Higher Management at the University of the Andes.
His professional life began in 1982 in the city of Cali, holding positions in the Foundations Group 80, Foundation for Higher Education, the Fes Institute of Leadership, Funda Empresa and the Carvajal.
Between 1992 and 1994 he settled in Europe as a senior consultant for the European Union.
On his return to Colombia he settled in Bogota. Between 1994 and 1999 he held the presidency of ACOPI, the guild of Small and Medium Enterprises, as well as of the NATIONAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL, the top umbrella of the Colombian business organization that groups the 18 most influential and representative guilds of the Colombian productive sector.
In 1999-2000 he served as a minister in the MINISTRY OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. During this period he served as Minister in Charge of Labor, Agriculture and Foreign Trade, at which time he promoted important initiatives for the development and strengthening of the national productive
With his leadership, he helped to generate important initiatives for the development of the tourism sector, such as the transformation of Law 300 by the new Tourism Law 1101. He launched the new Tourism Promotion Fund of Colombia, known Fontur, pushed for tax incentives for the hotel industry, the linking of Proexport to international promotion, the creation of funding sources and the internationalization of the union with important cooperation agreements with Countries such as Germany, Argentina, Costa Rica, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland, Romania and USA, Hungary, Hong Kong and China. In those countries he carried out training programs for more than 950 Colombian entrepreneurs.
He implemented a tourism quality program and projects, sustainable development and eco-efficient hotel management and corporate social responsibility.
He held the presidency of the Colombian Chamber of Tourism and as President of COTELCO, was a member of the Board of the Tourism Promotion Fund of Colombia. He is a member of the Advisory Councils of PROEXPORT.
Internationally he contributed to lead Colombia’s insertion in the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
Since March 2011 he was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Colombia in Korea and Concurring Ambassador to the Philippines and Mongolia.
Since 26 March 2014, he has been appointed as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Government of Austria and Concurring Ambassador to the Governments of Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Montenegro and Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations And other International Organizations based in Vienna.
United Nations World Tourism Organization Member States were invited to submit their applications to the UNWTO Secretariat to enter the election for the next Secretary General of this global organization.
The deadline is by midnight tonight. Applications must be received by the Secretariat not later than 11 March 2017 at 24:00 hours at the latest, Madrid local time.
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