Meet Arora Akanksha, 34-year-old Indian-Canadian running for UN Secretary General

Team Udayavani, Mar 2, 2021, 12:01 PM IST

Arora Akanksha, an Indian-origin employee at the UN has announced her candidacy to be its next Secretary-General

The 34-year-old holds  Canadian citizenship and recently submitted a formal letter of application for the role of United Nations Secretary-General for the 2022-27 term.

She aims to replace current Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, 71, veteran Portuguese statesman as well as former UN High Commissioner for refugees.

According to New York times, Arora has worked at the UNDP for only four years as an auditor and is half as old as current UN Chief Antonio Guterres. Also, she has no prior diplomatic experience.

Arora was born in Haryana and her parents who are doctors decided to relocate to Saudi Arabia. Arora spent her early days in Saudi Arabia and was in India from age 9 to 18 years. Later, she decided to move to Canada.

Arora graduated from York University and received her Master in Public Administration from Columbia University. She worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada as an auditing manager and was hired by the UN to help improve its internal financial controls