PARIS, November 6. /TASS/. Member states of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have elected Khaled El-Enany, Egyptian politician and Egyptologist, as the organization's new director general, according to a statement on the UNESCO website.

It noted that his nomination was approved at the 43rd session of UNESCO’s General Conference in Samarkand with 172 votes out of a total of 174 ballots.

"The new Director-General will succeed Audrey Azoulay, who has held this position since 2017, on 15 November," the statement reads.

El-Enany, 54, is an Egyptologist and Professor of Egyptology at Helwan University (Egypt), where he has been teaching for over 30 years. He holds a PhD in Egyptology from Paul-Valery Montpellier 3 University (France).

He led the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (2014-2016) and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (2015-2016). From 2016 to 2022, he served as the minister of antiquities and then as the minister of tourism and antiquities of the Arab Republic of Egypt.