Biographical Note

PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF CYPRUS PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

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

Andreas D. Mavroyiannis, the new Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the United Nations, today presented his credentials to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Mavroyiannis was Director of the Office of the Foreign Minister of Cyprus from 2002 to 2003, and also from 1995 to 1997.  Last year, from September 2002 to February 2003, he was part of the Greek Cypriot team in the direct talks for a solution to the Cyprus question.  In May, he served as Acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Following a brief academic career, Mr. Mavroyiannis joined the diplomatic service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus in 1987.  For five years, beginning in 1989, he was posted at the Embassy of Cyprus in Paris, where he represented his country at the Commission for the High Authority of the Law of the Sea, as well as at numerous international conferences.  He also became a member of the Committee of Legal Advisers on Public International Law of the Council of Europe.

He served as his country’s Ambassador to Ireland (1997-1999) and France (1999-2002), concurrently accredited as Ambassador to Andorra, Tunisia and Morocco.

In the Political Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he served in the Cyprus Question Division and in the European Union Division.  He was also an associate European correspondent for Cyprus.

Mr. Mavroyiannis received his law degree from the University of Thessaloniki in Greece in 1980.  In 1984, he was awarded the Diploma of The Hague Academy of International Law, which is recognized as the highest distinction in the field of international law.

He received three master’s degrees:  in sociology (1981), from the University of Paris Ten-Nanterre; in international law, from the University of Paris Two (1982); and, in political science, also from the University of Paris Two (1985).  He received his doctorate degree in political sociology (1985), also from the University of Paris Ten-Nanterre.

Born on 20 July 1956 at Agros, Cyprus, Mr. Mavroyiannis is married, with two children.

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