NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF HUNGARY PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

11 September 1997

Press Release
BIO/3101

NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF HUNGARY PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

19970911 Biographical Note

André Erdös, the new Permanent Representative of Hungary to the United Nations, today presented his credentials to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Erdös was Deputy State Secretary for Foreign Affairs in charge of multilateral questions, a position to which he was named in 1994. In that capacity, he addressed matters relating to the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as such issues as disarmament and the question of national minorities.

In 1995, Mr. Erdös served as Vice-President of the Review and Extension Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). He was also appointed as a member of the Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters by the then Secretary-General. Previously, in 1994, he had served as Chairman of the United Nations Disarmament Commission.

Mr. Erdös was Hungary's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1990 to 1994, representing his country, as well as in the Security Council in 1992 and 1993. He served as a member of Hungary's delegation to the General Assembly sessions in 1984, 1985 and 1989, and was also assigned to Hungary's United Nations Mission from 1978 to 1983. In 1982, he served as special assistant to Imre Hollai of Hungary, the President of the thirty- seventh session of the General Assembly.

As a staff member of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) Department in Hungary's Foreign Ministry, Mr. Erdös took part in CSCE meetings in Geneva (1973-1975) and Belgrade (1977-1978), and attended the 1975 CSCE Summit Meeting in Helsinki. From 1984 to 1986, he was Adviser to Hungary's Foreign Minister. Subsequently, as Ambassador, he led Hungary's delegations to the Vienna CSCE follow-up meetings (1986-1989).

Mr. Erdös graduated from the Moscow State Institute for International Relations in 1965, joining the Hungarian Foreign Ministry that year in its Arab and Asian Departments. From 1968 to 1972, he served as Attaché at the Embassy in Morocco.

Born in Algiers in 1941, Mr. Erdös is married and has one daughter.

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