Colombia’s President-elect Juan Manuel Santos announced that Sandra Bessudo, a marine biologist and natural resources expert, will join his cabinet as minister for the environment.
Santos also announced that the current Environment, Housing and Territorial Development portfolio, created by outgoing President Alvaro Uribe, will be scrapped and the Environment portfolio will stand as an independent entity.
In an interview with W Radio, Bessudo said that one of the most pertinent issues she wishes to address is the regulation of the productive sectors of the economy. Bessudo also mentioned climate change, water and protected areas
“We must return to the issue of environment.” said the prospective minister.
Santos named Bessudo as minister from London, following a meeting with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, with whom he collaborated on “The Third Way: An Alternative for Colombia,” a book written by the president-elect in 1999.
Bessudo is currently the director of the Malpelo foundation. She will join Maria Angela Holguin as defense minister and Juan Carlos Echeverry and German Cardona as finance and transport ministers in the Santos cabinet.
On Monday, Santos was officially named as president for the constitutional period 2010-2014.
