Names of 35 Tourism Ministers UNWTO is targeting to influence elections

UNWTO: Safe restart of tourism is possible
UNWTO: Safe restart of tourism is possible
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So far tourism ministers in these 35 countries had been quiet. One minister told eTurboNews off the record: “Why would I stick my neck out first?” This type of thinking may be the key to success for an unscrupulous UNWTO Secretary-General to influence the outcome of an election he wants to win.

Here is a list of the 35 countries. All countries are now informed about this scheme, and responses or actions are pending.

  1. Algeria
  2. Azerbaijan
  3. Bahrain
  4. Brazil
  5. Cabo Verde
  6. Chile
  7. China
  8. Congo
  9. Cรดte dโ€™Ivoire
  10. Egypt
  11. France
  12. Greece
  13. Guatemala
  14. Honduras
  15. India
  16. Iran (Islamic Republic of)
  17. Italy
  18. Japan
  19. Kenya
  20. Lithuania
  21. Namibia
  22. Peru
  23. Portugal
  24. Republic of Korea
  25. Romania
  26. Russian Federation
  27. Saudi Arabia
  28. Senegal
  29. Seychelles
  30. Spain
  31. Sudan
  32. Thailand
  33. Tunisia
  34. Turkey
  35. Zimbabwe

Invented by a master mind of political confusion

The City of Madrid dedicated a page on its website warning potential visitors not to travel to this city and lists all the restrictions, curfews, and mandatory closings in place.

The official website for tourism to Spain www.spain.info ignores COVID-19 altogether, but the US Embassy in Madrid posted the following:

Due to COVID-19 Spanish travel restrictions, U.S. citizens cannot enter Spain unless they meet very specific requirements or have already obtained special permission from the Government of Spain. Additionally, U.S. citizens travelling from the United States or certain other countries will need to show a negative PCR test result taken within 72 hours prior to arrival and complete a Health Control Form (See Entry and Exit Requirements below).

The Secretariat of the World Tourism Organization UNWTO in Madrid on December 8 mailed instructions to the tourism ministers in 35 member countries that are representing the executive committee. This committee is scheduled to meet in Madrid on January 18 and 19 to elect a new Secretary General. Zurab is one of the two candidates and made it almost impossible to get a competitor. The only competitor able to come in the last minute is HE Ms. Shaikha Mai Bint Mohammed Al-Khalifa from the Kingdom of Bahrain. Even Bahrain was misspelled in the official confirmation issued by UNWTO.

6 other countries nominated candidates. Due to the lack of time and the surprise of the short deadline clerical mistakes voided 6 intended nominations.

Zurab Pololikashvili is the mastermind behind this manipulation which some of the 35 victim countries may not be aware of.

For 2 years, the Secretary General catered to the needs of these 35 members making it unlikely for many of them to vote against him. There are economic obligations, important conferences, promises for important positions, issues negotiated by foreign ministers, as well as cross votes, and much more with this elite 35.

UNWTO Secretary General Zurab Pololikashvili tricked these 35 members in September this year to agree to moving the UNWTO election from May to January 2021. The Secretary General argued in Georgia that he wanted to eliminate unnecessary travel for executive council member ministers. The reasoning was because of FITUR scheduling – a trade show many ministers routinely attend in Madrid. This trade show was planned in Madrid for January 18-19. Zurab already knew about FITUR’s plan to postpone.

Just a week later, FITUR was postponed to May when Madrid went into lockdown. It made Madrid unsafe for travel. Instead of immediately also moving the election meeting back to when it was, Zurab is now forcing ministers to get on a plane and come to Madrid only for the January 18-19 vote. He very well knows this won’t happen, and he will win this election.

According to Zoltan Somogyi, a former Executive Director at World Tourism Organization, this scheme may be legal, but is highly unethical.

What about letting Executive Council Ministers vote electronically?

In a letter dated December 8, the UNWTO Secretariat was instructed to tell countries that electronic votes will not count.

Here is the relevant portion of the letter:

In accordance with Rule 29 of its Rules of Procedure and the long-standing rules and procedures applying for the nomination for the post of Secretary-General, reproduced herein under Section III below, the Council shall make its recommendation at a private meeting by secret ballot.

  1. The Rules of Procedure of the Executive Council and the Guiding Principles for the Conduct of Elections by Secret Ballot (annexed to the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly), together with
    the above-mentioned long-standing rules, have been drafted in a manner that presupposes that Member States be physically present at the private meeting. However, in the current global context in which in-person formal meetings of the Council pose a significant challenge and large gatherings are discouraged worldwide, it has become imperative to explore temporary and extraordinary means to ensure that it takes crucial decisions for the proper functioning of the Organization.
  2. To this effect, the Members of the Council adopted through silence procedure the decision โ€œSpecial Procedures governing the Executive Council during the COVID-19 pandemicโ€2 setting out special
    rules governing the conduct of virtual and in-person sessions of the Council during the COVID-19 pandemic and authorizing the Chair of the Council, with the endorsement of the Secretary-General, to hold sessions of the Council virtually insofar as the holding of an in-person meeting is not practical due to the pandemic, and to inform all the members of such decision ten days before the opening of the session.
  1. The technological means currently available to the Secretariat do not allow, however, for holding a secret ballot online but rather only in person. In fact, no governing body of any other organization of the United Nations system has held a secret ballot online.
  2. Consequently, even in case of a hybrid (online and in-person) session of the Council, on the item on the recommendation of a nominee to the post of Secretary-General, Members that are entitled to vote shall be physically present during the discussion of candidates (โ€œrestrictive private meetingโ€) and during the secret ballot (โ€œnormal private meetingโ€). To this effect, the delegations of voting Members of the Council shall consist of at least one member who shall be physically present throughout the private meeting and duly empowered to cast the ballot
  3. In sum, the representative of the voting Member of the Council physically present at the private meeting (โ€œthe voterโ€), be it a member of its own delegation or a member of a different delegation (proxy), must be duly accredited and empowered to cast the ballot on its behalf.
  4. The Secretariat further recalls that a number of Member States have appointed their Ambassadors to the Kingdom of Spain as Permanent Representatives to the Organization with sufficient authority so as to represent them in meetings of the governing bodies and to cast ballots on their behalf, in accordance with the practice of other organizations of the United Nations system.
  5. In relation to the designation of tellers as per the Guiding Principles for the Conduct of Elections by Secret Ballot, the Chair of the Council shall appoint two (2) tellers from among the Members of the Council whose delegations consist of more than one alternate physically present in the Meeting.
  6. Finally, in order to guarantee the necessary privacy of the meeting pursuant to the rules, online participation will not be made available during the restrictive private meeting, and likewise, it may be
    also restricted when the secret ballot takes place.

Last week, all countries were contacted in an open letter by former UNWTO Secretary General Dr. Taleb Rifai, and by Francesco Frangialli, to demand a change of the election day. So far no country has openly responded.

World Tourism Network and hundreds of its members called for decency in the UNWTO Election Process. No response was received by UNWTO.

A letter was sent to the United Nations Secretary General in New York yesterday, and a response is pending.

This is where the letter was sent to:

 Executive Council Members 

Algeria 
S.E. M. Mohamed Hamidou 
Ministre du Tourisme, de l’artisanat et du travail familial 

Azerbaijan 
H.E. Mr. Fuad Naghiyev 
Chairman of the State Tourism Agency 

Bahrain 
H.E. Mr. Zayed Rashed Alzayani 
Minister of Industry and Commerce and Tourism 

Brazil 
H.E. Mr. Marcelo รlvaro Antรดnio 
Minister of Tourism 

Cape Verde 
H.E. Mr. Carlos Jorge Duarte Santos 
Minister of Tourism and Transport 

Chile 
Excmo. Sr. Josรฉ Luis Uriarte 
Subsecretario de Turismo 
Ministerio de Economรญa, Fomento y Turismo 
Subsecretarรญa de Turismo 

China 
H.E. Mr. Heping Hu 
Minister of Culture and Tourism 
Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Peopleโ€™s Republic of China 

Congo 
S.E. Mme. Arlette Soudan-Nonault 
Ministre du Tourisme et de l’Environnement, en charge du Dรฉveloppement durable 

Cรดte dโ€™Ivoire 
S.E. M. Siandou Fofana 
Ministre du tourisme et Loisirs 

Egypt 
H.E. Dr. Khaled Ahmed El-Enany 
Minister of Tourism and Antiquities 

France 
S.E. M. Jean-Yves Le Drian 
Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, France Minister 
Direction des entreprises, de lโ€™รฉconomie internationale et de la promotion du tourisme (DEEIT) 

Greece 
H.E. Mr. Harry Theoharis 
Minister of Tourism 

Guatemala 
Sr. Mynor Arturo Cordรณn Lemus 
Director General 
Instituto Guatemalteco de Turismo (INGUAT) 

Honduras 
Excma. Sra. Nicole Marderr 
Ministra de Turismo 

India 
H.E. Mr. Prahlad Singh Patel 
Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge) 
Ministry of Tourism, Government of India 

Iran 
Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts of the Islamic Republic of Iran (MCTH) 

Italy 
H.E. Mr. Dario Franceschini 
Minister of Culture, Cultural Heritage and Tourism 

Japan 
H.E. Mr. Kazuyoshi Akaba 
Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism 

Kenya 
Hon. Mr. Najib Balala 
Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife 
Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife 

Lithuania 
H.E. Mr. Rimantas Sinkeviฤius 
Minister Ministry of Economy and Innovation 

Namibia 
Hon. Pohamba Penomwenyo Shifeta 
Minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism 

Peru 
H.E. Ms. Claudia Eugenia Cornejo Mohme 
Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism 

Portugal 
H.E. Mr. Pedro Siza Vieira 
Minister of Economy, Portugal 

Republic of Korea 
H.E. Mr. Yangwoo Park 
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism 

Romania 
H.E. Mr. Virgil-Daniel Popescu 
Ministry of Economy, Energy and Business Environment 

Russian Federation 
Mrs. Zarina Doguzova 
Head of the Federal Agency for Tourism 
Federal Agency for Tourism of the Russian Federation 

Saudi Arabia 
H.E. Mr. Ahmed bin Aqil Al Khateeb 
Minister of Tourism 

Senegal 
H.E. Mr. Alioune Sarr Minister of Tourism and Air Transport 

Seychelles 
H.E. Louis Sylvestre Radegonde

Spain 
Excma. Sra. Da. Marรญa Reyes Maroto Illera 
Ministra de Industria, Comercio y Turismo 

Sudan 
Dr. Girham Abdelgadir Demin 
Undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities 
Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities 

Thailand 
H.E. Mr. Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn 
Minister of Tourism and Sports 

Tunisia 
S.E. M. Habib Ammar 
Ministre du tourisme et de l’artisanat 

Turkey 
H.E. Mr. Mehmet Nuri Ersoy 
Minister of Culture and Tourism 

Zimbabwe 

Hon. Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu 
Minister of Environment,Tourism and Hospitality Industry 

About the author

Avatar of Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen Thomas Steinmetz has continuously worked in the travel and tourism industry since he was a teenager in Germany (1977).
He founded eTurboNews in 1999 as the first online newsletter for the global travel tourism industry.

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