Biographical Note

New Permanent Representative of Cambodia Presents Credentials

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

Chem Widhya, the new Permanent Representative of Cambodia to the United Nations, presented his credentials today to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Since 1993, Mr. Chem had been serving as Permanent Secretary of Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.  He was elevated to the rank of Undersecretary of State in 1996 and then to Secretary of State in 1997. 

Prior to becoming Permanent Secretary, Mr. Chem was Deputy Secretary-General to Cambodia’s Constituent Assembly in 1993, after spending two years with the Secretariat of Cambodia’s Supreme National Council.  His diplomatic career began in 1990 with a two-year tenure as Private Secretary to Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Mr. Chem earned a Doctorate in Political Affairs in 1989 with the distinction of Magna Cum Laude from the Institute of International Relations in Potsdam-Babelsberg, in the former East Germany, where he had earned his Master’s Degree in Political Science in 1986.  He received his early education in Phnom Penh, Cairo and Algiers.  In addition to his native language, Mr. Chem is fluent in French, English and German.

He has served on the Board of Directors of the Royal School of Administration since 1995.  Since 2000, he has also served on the Board of Directors of the Cambodia Development Resource Institute.  Among other distinctions, he was awarded the orders of Chevalier and Commandeur in the Royal Order of Mony Saraphoan in 2003.

Born on 6 December 1958 in Phnom Penh, Mr. Chem is married and has three children.

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