(Yicai Global) June 24 -- Qu Dongyu, China's vice minister for agriculture and rural affairs, was elected yesterday as the new director-general of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization. He will be the first Chinese national to hold the post.

Dr. Qu beat out French and Georgian candidates to become the ninth FAO chief, Xinhua News Agency reported. He will take office on Aug. 1.

Born in south-central Hunan province in 1963, Qu has an extensive background in the agricultural field. Before being named as a vice minister in June 2015, Qu served as vice president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences between 2001 and 2008 and was director-general of its Institute of Vegetables and Flowers from 2000 to 2002.

He graduated with a bachelor's degree from Hunan Agricultural College in 1983 and did a master's degree in plant breeding and genetics at the CAAS. He earned a PhD in agriculture and environmental sciences from Wageningen University in the Netherlands in 1996.

Founded in 1945, the Rome-based FAO is an agriculture-specific organization of the UN that has significant influence in global food and farm policy exchanges, standards setting and data collection.