The world council of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has chosen Rajat Gupta as the organisation’s new chairman.

He will succeed Victor Fung, who continues as both honorary chairman of the ICC and chairman of Hong Kong-based multinational trade services group Li and Fung.

Gupta currently serves as senior partner emeritus at management consultants McKinsey and Company, where he has worked for over three decades.

He has held a number of senior roles at the firm, including becoming the first non-US-born managing director worldwide in the firm’s history.

Gupta is also an independent director of a number of organisations, including Procter and Gamble, AMR Corporation, Harman International, Qatar Financial Centre, as well as being a senior advisor to Russia’s Sberbank.

Furthermore, Gupta has served as the UN secretary-general’s special advisor on UN reform.

He comments: “I consider the ICC chairmanship to be an honour and an opportunity. I share ICC’s strong commitment to open trade and a market economy, particularly in difficult economic times.”

“The difference between promoting a resilient economy and a stalled economy depends, in large part, on whether policymakers choose open markets, open trade and open competition, or adopt various forms of protectionism,” he adds.