SHMU Will Have New Director, Herkel to Take over As Interim Head

Bratislava, January 31 (TASR) - The Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute (SHMU) will have a new head as Vasil Penev ends his term as director general as of Friday, the Environment Ministry's press department told TASR on the same day, adding that starting from Saturday (February 1), the SHMU will be headed by Ivana Herkel on a temporary basis. Ivana Herkel has worked until now as the SHMU economic department director. "She works in the SHMU as a proficient manager and until the new management is duly appointed, which will result from a selection procedure, we'll cooperate mainly on the technical modernization of the SHMU, which is a great challenge and opportunity at the same time," said Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee). Taraba also thanked Penev for his cooperation so far, praising his merit in addressing the problems which, according to the minister, had been left by the previous management, especially in the area of inadequate implementation of information systems. am/mcs