NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF ROMANIA PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

Biographical Note

NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF ROMANIA PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

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

Mihnea Ioan Motoc, the New Permanent Representative of Romania to the United Nations, presented his credentials today to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Motoc served as State Secretary for European Integration and Multilateral Affairs from 2001 to 2003.  He was appointed Ambassador of Romania to the Netherlands and Permanent Representative to the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in 1999.  Before that, he was Director-General of the Directorate General for European and Euro-Atlantic Organizations, which concerned the European Union, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Mr. Motoc began his diplomatic career in 1991 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he held several posts including Director of the European Union Department (1996) and Deputy Director of the Human Rights Department (1994).

This year, he was Head of the Romanian Delegation for Accession Talks to NATO and has been President of the Inter-departmental Commission for Romania’s Accession to NATO since 2001.  He also served as President of the National Security Authority (2001 and 2002); National Coordinator of the South-East Europe Stability Pact (2001); and Vice-Chairman of the Executive Council of the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (2000).

In addition, Mr. Motoc was a member of the International Humanitarian Fact Finding Commission (1996-2000) and of the Permanent Secretariat of the
Inter-ministerial Committee for European Integration (1996-1998).  He also participated in political treaty talks with neighbouring countries from 1992 to 1996 and headed Romanian delegations to international meetings of the United Nations, Council of Europe, OSCE and the European Union. 

Mr. Motoc holds a J.D. from the University of Bucharest’s School of Law and an L.L.M. in Public International and Comparative Law from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., United States.  He also attended post-graduate studies in Public and Private International Law at Nice University in France.  Prior to his diplomatic career, he worked as a magistrate.

Married with one son, Mr. Motoc was born in Bucharest on 11 November 1966.  He is fluent in English and French.

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