SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS DIEGO CORDOVEZ AS SPECIAL ADVISER
Press Release
SG/A/632
BIO/3069
SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS DIEGO CORDOVEZ AS SPECIAL ADVISER
19970418 Biographical Note Secretary-General Kofi Annan has decided to appoint Diego Cordovez of Ecuador as Special Adviser to the Secretary-General effective 28 April 1997. This follows on the decision of Han Sung-Joo of the Republic of Korea not to continue in his position as the Special Representative of the Secretary- General for Cyprus beyond 30 April 1997.The Secretary-General is determined to press ahead with the intensified effort to bring about a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus issue. The Secretary-General hopes that the current process will lead to direct talks between the two leaders within the next two or three months. The primary task of Mr. Cordovez will be to prepare and assist the Secretary-General in chairing the next rounds of the inter-communal talks.
Mr. Cordovez was a staff member of the United Nations Secretariat for 25 years. From 1981 to 1988 Mr. Cordovez served as Under-Secretary-General for Special Political Affairs. In that capacity he conducted the negotiations that culminated in the 1988 Geneva accords leading to the Soviet troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Mr. Cordovez was the Foreign Minister of Ecuador from 1988 to 1992.
In 1992, Mr. Cordovez was appointed Diplomat-in-Residence at Columbia University, New York City. He is a member of the Board of the Institute on Global Conflict and Co-operation of the University of California, as well as President of the World Trade Center of Ecuador and Special Counsel at Leboeuf, Lamb, Greene and MacRae, a New York City-based international law firm.
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