Antonio PEDRO
Deputy Executive Secretary, UNECA
Antonio M.A. Pedro is the Deputy Executive Secretary (Programme Support) of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Africa’s premier thought leadership institution focused on generating knowledge and applying policy research in support of accelerated economic diversification and structural transformation. A mineral exploration geologist with more than 40 years’ experience, Pedro has broad experience of and exposure to international development issues and management at national, sub-regional, and continental levels.
As the Director of the ECA Sub-regional Office for Eastern Africa, based in Kigali, Rwanda (2009-2016), he provided thought leadership and helped elucidate pathways and designpractical tools and integrated solutions on i ssues of sustainable development and structural transformation, governance of natural resources, tourism, blue economy, ICT and infrastructure development, and regional integration. To this end, he introduced new workstreams on the Blue Economy (including the publication of the African Blue Economy: Policy Handbook), as well as spearheaded work on tourism leading to the adoption of IGAD’s Tourism Master Plan, a reference framework which is informing work on tourism in countries such as Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia.
Prior to joining ECA, he was the Director General of the Southern and Eastern African Mineral Centre (SEAMIC), in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where he led the modernization and corporate restructuring process of the institution.