Rabat – The representatives of the Union members in the Economic, Social, and Environmental Council (CESE) have unanimously elected Morocco’s Ahmed Reda Chami, as the new president of the Union of African Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions (UCESA).
The election took place on Wednesday, December 18, in Rabat during the Union’s elective general assembly.
Chami welcomed the trust of the representatives of the Union members in the CESE. The newly elected president will serve for the period of 2019-2021.
“My first thought goes to my predecessor, President of the CES of Mali Boulkassoum Haidara, who had carried out his mandate with efficiency and insight over the past two years thanks to which the Union has succeeded in fostering its status among African international and regional institutions,” said Chami.
Within the road map of the Moroccan mandate, Chami underlined priorities including the strengthening of the institutional and organizational mechanisms of the Union and the promotion of a system of reference and objectives for a social charter.
The priorities also include strengthening cooperation, broadening and better positioning the UCESA and bringing the theme of the impact of “climate change and the responses to be brought to the benefit of the African populations” by co-constructing a citizen-centered participatory approach.
“Our ambition is to raise the Union’s contribution to the dynamics of improving the well-being of African citizens and to the sustainable development of the continent,” he stressed.
Created in 2001, the UCESA brings together the economic and social councils of Africa and represents the continent on the board of directors of the International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions (AICESIS).
The CESE provides advice on economic, social and environmental issues by carrying out studies and research at the request of the Government, the House of Representatives or the House of Councilors, or on its own initiative.
On December 3, 2018, Chami succeeded to Nizar Baraka at the presidency of the CESE after King Mohammed VI appointed him to the post.
Chami has an academic background. After studying at the Ecole Centrale Paris to graduate as an engineer and obtaining a master’s in management from John E. Anderson Graduate School Of Management, he then returned to Morocco to hold the post of General Director of Centrale Laitiere in North Africa from 1989 and 1991.
After founding two enterprises, the former minister of industry and trade joined Microsoft where he pursued an 11-year-career and held several high-responsibility posts until 2004.
Chami entered the Moroccan political scene in 2007 when he helped to set up the electoral program for the Party of Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP).
Once the party joined the government coalition formed after the October 2007 elections, he was chosen a minister in the Abbas El Fassi government.
