This file photo taken on Sept. 2, 2020 shows Barham Ahmed Salih in Baghdad, Iraq. The UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Thursday elected former Iraqi president Barham Ahmed Salih as the next United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to succeed Filippo Grandi of Italy. (Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Thursday elected former Iraqi president Barham Ahmed Salih as the next United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to succeed Filippo Grandi of Italy.

In a statement, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the election of Salih for a term of five years beginning Jan. 1, 2026.

According to the statement, Salih served as Iraqi president from 2018 to 2022 and has a career spanning more than three decades of governmental service in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

Salih, born in 1960, served twice as prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (2001-2004; 2009-2012) and as deputy prime minister of Iraq (2004-2009). He played a central role in Iraq's post-2003 reconstruction and economic recovery, the statement said.

In addition to his native Kurdish and Arabic, Salih is fluent in English, the statement said. ■