A former Bulgarian Foreign Minister has been appointed as the new United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East.
Nickolay Mladenov, 42, who replaces Dutch Robert Serry, has been appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as “his Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and his Personal Representative to the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Palestinian Authority”.
He will be Ban’s envoy to the Middle East Quartet.
UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said that Mladenov "brings with him extensive experience in public service and international affairs."
Mladenov served as Foreign Minister and Defence Minister in Bulgaria from 2009 to 2013. He also was a member of the European Parliament from 2007 to 2009. He had been the top U.N. envoy in Iraq since 2013.
While Robert Serry had a tense relationship with Israel, Mladenov is considered as more sensitive to Israel’s security concerns.