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BIO/3104

OSCAR DE ROJAS OF VENEZUELA ELECTED CHAIRMAN OF SECOND COMMITTEE

16 September 1997


Press Release
BIO/3104
GA/EF/2757


OSCAR DE ROJAS OF VENEZUELA ELECTED CHAIRMAN OF SECOND COMMITTEE

19970916 Oscar R. de Rojas, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Venezuela to the United Nations, was this afternoon elected Chairman of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial). He has been Deputy Permanent Representative since 1995.

From 1991 to 1995, Mr. de Rojas served as Permanent Observer to the United Nations for the Latin American Economic System (SELA). Prior to that, he was Director-General for International Economic Affairs in his country's Foreign Ministry (1989-1991), Venezuela's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva (1987-1989), and head of the Economic Section at its Mission to the United Nations in New York (1983-1987).

From 1980 to 1983, Mr. de Rojas was Director-General for International Technical Cooperation in the National Office of Coordination and Planning, where he had served years earlier as an Economic Development Analyst in its Macroeconomic Programming Division (1972-1973). He began his career in 1968 as an economic and systems analyst with Shell Oil Company of Venezuela, serving in the Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana from 1973 to 1974.

Mr. de Rojas has participated extensively in international economic meetings and conferences since 1974, when he became Executive Assistant to the Minister of State for International Economic Affairs (1974-1977). Subsequently, he was Director of Non-traditional Exports Promotion at the Institute of Foreign Trade (1977-1978) and Minister-Counsellor at Venezuela's Foreign Ministry in Caracas (1978-1980).

Among his duties, Mr. de Rojas served as coordinator of consultations during the General Assembly's 1995-1996 session on the restructuring and revitalization of the United Nations in the economic, social and related fields. He was also President of the Trade and Development Board of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) during 1989-1990 and Vice-Chairman of the Second Committee during the Assembly's 1986 session.

Mr. de Rojas earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Louisiana State University in 1968. At Columbia University, he earned a Master of Arts degree in Economics, in 1971, and a Master of International Affairs Degree in 1972.

Born on 1 August 1947, Mr. de Rojas is married and has two children.

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For information media. Not an official record.