Biographical Note

New Permanent Representative of Colombia Presents Credentials

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

The new Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations,
Maria Angela Holguín, presented her credentials to Secretary-General Kofi Annan today.

Previously, Ms. Holguín served as her country’s Ambassador to Venezuela from September 2002 until August 2004 and was the Coordinator of the International Affairs Committee of the Alvaro Uribe campaign.  She also held the post of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge in 1998.

A political scientist of great expertise in Colombia foreign policy,
Ms. Holguín was the Regional Director for Latin America of the Worldview International Foundation (1999) and has served as the Deputy Director in the office of the President of Colombia, as well as the advisor to the Deputy Minister, Chief of Staff and Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On the regional plane, Ms. Holguín has served as the Colombian Coordinator of the thirty-ninth Assembly of the Inter-American Development Bank and the
Inter-American Investment Corporation, as the Executive Director of the Regional Conference on Children of the Caribbean and Latin America and as the Technical Secretary of the Eleventh Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries.

Ms. Holguín, who received her Bachelor of Science degree in political science from the University of Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia, also has specializations in Public Management and Administrative Institutions from the University of Los Andes and in diplomacy and strategy from the Centre d’Etudes Diplomatiques et Strategiques in Paris, France.

She was born in Bogota, Colombia, and has one son.

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