Biographical Note                                           BIO/3457/Rev.1*

                                                            1 October 2002

NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF LIECHTENSTEIN PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

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

Christian Wenaweser, the new Permanent Representative of Liechtenstein to the United Nations, presented his credentials today to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Wenaweser, who had served since 1998 as Counsellor and Deputy Permanent Representative at the Mission of Liechtenstein, was elected Chairman of the General Assembly's Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) on 17 July this year.  From 1992 to 1998, he served as Desk Officer in the Office of Foreign Affairs of Liechtenstein, with responsibility for the United Nations (Human Rights, Disarmament and International Law); and as First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein to the United Nations, based in Vaduz, Liechtenstein.

Before that, he received diplomatic training at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bern, Switzerland (1991-1992).  He also undertook a special training course for Swiss and Liechtenstein diplomats at the Institut Universitaire des Hautes Etudes Internationales (HEI) in Geneva, Switzerland, as well as Spanish-language studies in Barcelona, Spain, during the same period.  Between 1989 and 1990, Mr. Wenaweser was awarded a scholarship by the Swiss National Foundation, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Munich, Germany, to study film-making, French literature and philosophy.  Earlier, he was a teaching assistant in Greek literature at Zurich University, and studied Italian in Rome. 

Mr. Wenaweser was a member of Liechtenstein’s delegation to such gatherings as the International Conference on Financing for Development (Monterrey, 2002) and the Conference on the establishment of an International Criminal Court (Rome, 1998).

In 1987, Mr. Wenaweser received is licentiate at Zurich University in Greek literature, linguistics, Latin literature and philosophy.  He was born on

16 November 1963 in Zurich, Switzerland.

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*     Revised to included additional information.  This release supersedes Press Release BIO/3450-GA/SHC/3686 of 11 September.