UAE-based Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov is the man chosen to serve as director general of the Gaza Board of Peace, formed as part of President Donald Trump's 20-point plan for the war-torn enclave.
The board, chaired by the US President, will oversee the second phase of a fragile Gaza ceasefire. President Trump announced its formation on Thursday.
Mr Mladenov is a former UN envoy to the Middle East who has frequently worked to ease tensions between Israel and Hamas.
He served as Bulgaria’s minister of defence from July 2009 to January 2010 and then as minister of foreign affairs from January 2010 until March 2013 in the government of prime minister Boyko Borisov.
Mr Mladenov also served as a member of the European Parliament from 2007 to 2009, representing Bulgaria in the European People’s Party Group.
UN roles
In August 2013, he was appointed by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon as special representative for Iraq and head of the world body's mission there, Unami. Two years later, he became the UN special co-ordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, before leaving the role in 2020.
During his tenure, Mr Mladenov played a key role in efforts to defuse cross-border violence between Israel and Hamas, and to preserve prospects for negotiated solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, earning praise and confidence from leaders on both sides.
Since August 2021, he has served as a Segal Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a US think tank focused on Middle East analysis and policy.
He is currently the director general of the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi.
Mr Mladenov's appointment as director general of the Gaza Board of Peace was announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, after the two men met in Jerusalem.
NBC News, quoting a senior American official, confirmed that Mr Mladenov is the US choice to be the day-to-day, on-the-ground administrator of what Mr Trump described as “the greatest and most prestigious board ever assembled at any time, any place”.
The board will supervise a Palestinian technocratic government, which is still to be formed, and oversee Gaza's reconstruction process.
The US peace plan began with a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in October, following two years of conflict that levelled much of Gaza.
The second phase of the plan includes the formation of the Board of Peace as well as an international stabilisation force that will focus on security in the enclave. It will also include the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza.
