SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS CHEN JIAN UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY AFFAIRS AND CONFERENCE SERVICES

                                                      BIO/3373

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS CHEN JIAN UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL

FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY AFFAIRS AND CONFERENCE SERVICES

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed Chen Jian as Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly Affairs and Conference Services, with effect from

21 August 2001.

Before joining the United Nations, Mr. Chen, a national of China, was a diplomat in the Chinese Foreign Ministry.  He served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of China to Japan between 1998 and July 2001.  From 1996 to 1998, Mr. Chen was Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, after two years as Director-General of the Department of Information and concurrently Spokesman of the Foreign Ministry.

Mr. Chen has worked extensively in the multilateral field.  He served three times with the Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations -- as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations between 1992 and 1994, as Third Secretary, Second Secretary and then First Secretary between 1980 and 1984, and as Attaché between 1972 and 1977.

In between these postings, he served as Director, Counsellor and then Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Organizations and Conferences of the Foreign Ministry from 1985 to 1992, as Assistant in the Office of the Executive Director representing China at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) between 1984 and 1985, and as Attaché in the Department of International Organizations and Conferences of the Foreign Ministry from 1977 to 1980.

Mr. Chen has also represented China in various intergovernmental forums, including the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and other international conferences and meetings.

Born on 2 February 1942, Mr. Chen is married with one daughter. 

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