“Universities must spearhead the 2030 Agenda”, by Cristina Gallach
Cristina Gallach
High Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda
Cristina Gallach has been the Spanish Government's High Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda since July 2018, a role in which she is responsible for coordinating the country's implementation of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.
Her extensive professional experience is rooted in the fields of communication, international relations, security, defence, and development policies. She is closely acquainted with EU institutions, and joined the Council of the European Union in 1999. Furthermore she is the only woman from Spain to have occupied high-ranking positions in all three of the major international organizations: the EU, the UN and NATO.
She is passionate about gender equality and the promotion of diversity and inclusion in EU institutions, having reached a higher position within the United Nations than any Spanish woman before her when she was appointed as a head of department, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. She also specializes in communications relating to security, defence and crises.
She has been commended for her work as a mentor of young professionals at various NGOs, in particular Brussels-based Women in International Security, of which she was appointed president. In Spain she collaborates with various private foundations, as a trustee of both Novia Salcedo (Bilbao) and Ernest Lluch, and with the Cercle d'Economia institution in Barcelona.