SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS AKIRA TAKAHASHI DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE IN EAST TIMOR

Press Release
SG/A/710

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS AKIRA TAKAHASHI DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE IN EAST TIMOR

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary- General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General has appointed Akira Takahashi as the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Humanitarian Assistance and Emergency Rehabilitation of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET).

Mr. Takahashi, a Japanese national, is an expert in the field of development assistance. He has extensive experience in coordinating technical and financial cooperation projects, as well as assisting institutional building of developing countries. He has served for 35 years with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which is responsible for the technical cooperation aspect of Japan's overseas development assistance programmes. He is currently Special Adviser to the President of JICA. In 1998, Mr. Takahashi was appointed as a member of the United Nations task force on Human Resource Management Reform.

Mr. Takahashi is expected to arrive in East Timor at the beginning of December.

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