NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF UNITED STATES PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

Biographical Note

NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF UNITED STATES PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

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

The new Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations, John D. Negroponte, presented his credentials this afternoon to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Mr. Negroponte was a 37-year career diplomat with the United States Department of State, serving as Ambassador to Honduras (1981-1985), Mexico (1989-1993) and the Philippines (1993-1996).  From 1996 to 1997, he was the Special Negotiator for post-1999 United States Presence in Panama.  In 1997, he left the foreign service to join the McGraw Hill Companies as Executive Vice-President of Global Markets, a position he held until assuming his United Nations post.

Mr. Negroponte, who joined the foreign service in 1960, has held the posts of Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (1987-1989), Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environment and Scientific Affairs (1985-1987), Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs (1980-1981) and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and Fisheries Affairs (1977-1979).

He was also a member of the United States delegation to the Paris Peace Talks on Viet Nam (1968-1969), after serving as a Political Officer at the United States Embassy in Saigon (1964-1968).

Mr. Negroponte graduated from Yale University in 1960.  Married with five children, he speaks French, Greek and Spanish.

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