Joan Clos i Matheu, GCIH (Catalan pronunciation: [ʒuˈaŋ ˈklɔs]; born 29 June 1949) is a Spanish politician who was mayor of Barcelona, Spain from September 1997 to September 2006. He took over from Pasqual Maragall in 1997. In 1999 he was elected to a four-year term, and was then re-elected in the municipal elections of 25 May 2003. In September 2006, he left Barcelona Town Hall, after nine years of office, as he was appointed Minister of Industry, Tourism and Trade by Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. After a stint as the Spanish Ambassador in Turkey and Azerbaijan, in 2010 he was appointed as Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, (UN-HABITAT), and Under Secretary General of the United Nations. Joan Clos is also president of the Spanish C