Pole named president of World Food Programme's executive board

The Polish Ambassador to the UN Artur Pollok became the new president of the World Food Programme's (WFP) supreme governing body, the first Pole to hold this position, Polish Foreign Ministry announced on Monday.

WFP is a UN agency established in 1963 to combat global hunger and the largest humanitarian organisation in the world.

Pollok was elected to the post by the 36-member executive board of the Rome-based WFP on February 27 to replace the Bangladeshi Shameem Ahsan.

The newly elected president of the WFP said in his inaugural address that he "would particularly like to support WFP efforts in providing assistance that facilitate communities to become self-sufficient and resilient to shocks," as cited in the foreign ministry's statement.

In his speech, Pollok also declared his full commitment to continuing efforts to help the most affected regions of the world.

Pollok, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of the Republic of United Nations Organisations in Rome, has represented Poland to the UN organisations – the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).