NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF UKRAINE PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

Biographical Note

NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF UKRAINE PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

(Based on information received from the Protocol and Liaison Service.)

The new Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations, Valeriy P. Kuchinsky, today presented his credentials to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Prior to this appointment, Mr. Kuchinsky was Ukraine’s acting Permanent Representative to the United Nations from November 2000, and First Deputy Permanent Representative from December 1999.

Except for the years 1975 to 1980 -- when Mr. Kuchinsky was a member of the United Nations Secretariat -- he has worked for his country's Ministry for Foreign Affairs since 1971.

He has held posts in the Ministry's Departments of International Organizations and of the Americas, ultimately serving as Director-General of the former from 1997 and 1998 and of the latter in 1998 and 1999.  He has also served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Ukrainian Embassy to the United States in Washington, D.C. (1992-1997) and as Director of the Ministry's Department of Arms Control and Disarmament from 1990 to 1992.

He has also been a member of the board of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Executive Secretary of the Ukrainian National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Born in Kiev, Ukraine, on 25 October 1944, Mr. Kuchinsky is married and has a son and a daughter.

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