NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF TONGA PRESENTS CREDENTIALS
Press Release
BIO/3271
NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF TONGA PRESENTS CREDENTIALS
20000121 Biographical Note(Based on information received from the Protocol and Liaison Service.)
S Tua Taumoepeau-Tupou, the new Permanent Representative of Tonga to the United Nations, today presented his credentials to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
From 1986 until his current appointment, Mr. Taumoepeau-Tupou was Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He previously served in that same capacity from 1979 to 1983, at which time he was appointed High Commissioner (Ambassador) to the United Kingdom, with simultaneous accreditation to several other European countries, the European Economic Community and the United States.
In 1978, Mr. Taumoepeau-Tupou was appointed Deputy Secretary to Government. The previous year, he was Assistant Secretary in the Prime Ministers Office. His previous diplomatic experience includes a 1973 posting as First Secretary in the Tonga High Commission to the United Kingdom.
Educated at Newington College in Sydney, Australia, and at the East-West Centre University in Hawaii, Mr. Taumoepeau-Tupou was commissioned a lieutenant in the Tonga Defence Services in 1971, later earning promotion to captain.
He is married and has four children.
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