Jacques Diouf of Senegal was re- elected to a third six-year term as Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Saturday.

He received a total of 137 votes out of 165 votes cast and was the only candidate nominated by the Organization's 189 members. As an intergovernmental organization, FAO has 188 member countries plus one member organization, the European Community.

The election took place on the first day of the biennial governing Conference, which also will decide the Organization's budget for 2006 - 2007 and a major reform proposal tabled by Diouf.

Diouf was first elected FAO Director-General in November 1993. Before that he was Senegal's Ambassador to the United Nations in New York. He has also served as Secretary-General of the Central Bank for West African States in Dakar, Senegal, and as a Member of Parliament and Secretary of State for Science and Technology of Senegal.

Diouf is FAO's seventh Director-General since the Organization was founded in Quebec City, Canada on October 16, 1945.

Source: Xinhua