The permanent council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on March 11 elected Fang Liu as its new secretary general, making her the first woman and the first Chinese national to lead the United Nations aviation body.
Liu has served as director of the Bureau of Administration and Services, one of five divisions of ICAO’s secretariat. She will succeed Raymond Benjamin of France as secretary general—the organization’s CEO—for a three-year term effective August 1. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu of Nigeria is the council president.
In a tweet, Violeta Bulc, a Slovenian national who became the European Union’s transport commissioner in November, called Liu an “inspiring precedent for women aviation professionals everywhere.”
Before joining ICAO in 2007, Liu served as director of the international affairs division of the Civil Aviation Administration of China. In that capacity, she was charged with formulating China’s international air transport policy and conducting bilateral consultations with other countries over air agreements. According to an online biography, she has a law degree from Wuhan University of China and a degree in air and space law from Leiden University of the Netherlands.
The council is composed of 36 member states elected by the organization’s General Assembly, which represents 191 states. ICAO said candidates from Australia, India and UAE also sought the secretary-general position.