Hao Ping, China's vice minister for education, was Tuesday elected president of the 37th General Conference of UNESCO for the next two years, Xinhua reported.
Hao Ping, representative to the UNESCO's executive board, was officially endorsed at the opening of the 37th session of the general conference to replace Katalin Bogyay, Hungary's ambassador to the UN's specialised agency.
The endorsement makes Hao Ping the first representative of China to be elected to chair the supreme governing body of UNESCO.
Born in 1959 in Shangdong, Hao Ping was vice president of China's Peking University (2001-2005) and president of the Beijing Foreign Studies University (2005-2009), before assuming the position as China's vice minister of education.
He has been engaged in international exchanges, cooperation and communication for decades.