| Montreal, 22/08/2006 – The Council of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, consisting of the Honorable Rona Ambrose, Minister of the Environment for Canada, Mr. Stephen J. Johnson, Administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency, and Mr. José Luis Luege Tamargo, Secretary for Environment and Natural Resources for Mexico, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Adrián Vázquez as the fourth executive director of the CEC Secretariat.
Yesterday's appointment of Mr. Vázquez follows a search led by Mexico’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) on behalf of the CEC Council. The search, which began on 30 May with advertisements in several leading Mexican newspapers, was followed by a review of applications by a four-member, eminent-persons evaluation committee, which submitted a short list of qualified candidates to Council for their consideration. The three environment ministers interviewed the final top candidates and selected Mr. Vázquez to serve a three-year term to begin in September 2006.
The new executive director will work at the headquarters of the CEC Secretariat, which are located in Montreal. The CEC Secretariat includes a staff of approximately 50 employees and has an annual budget of US$9 million.
Prior to his appointment to the CEC, Mr. Vázquez was the Deputy Minister of Management for Environmental Protection at Semarnat. Mr. Vázquez holds degrees in chemistry from the University of Texas at El Paso, and is in the process of completing a PhD. Council members believe that Mr. Vázquez’s experience and expertise will be invaluable to the CEC as it continues its work to conserve, protect and improve the environment in North America.
The CEC Council would like to thank the third executive director, William V. Kennedy, whose term will end on 31 August 2006. For the last three years, Mr. Kennedy has worked tirelessly as the CEC’s executive director. His dedicated leadership has played a key role in making the organization more focused and results-oriented.
The CEC is an international organization created in 1994 under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (the NAAEC), the environmental side-agreement to the North American Free Trade Agreement. The CEC implements the NAAEC, the objectives of which include, among other things, to foster the protection and improvement of the environment in North America, to help avoid trade distortions or barriers, and to enhance compliance with, and enforcement of, environmental laws and regulations. The CEC mission underscores the importance of public participation to foster conservation of the North American environment.
For more information, please contact:
Spencer Tripp
Commission for Environmental Cooperation
Tel: 514-350-4331
|
