NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF POLAND PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

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

The new Permanent Representative of Poland to the United Nations, Andrzej Towpik, today presented his credentials to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Prior to his current appointment, for two years from 2002 to 2004, Ambassador Towpik was Under-Secretary of State for Defence Policy at the Ministry of National Defence of Poland.  Before that, he was Ambassador and Head of the Polish Permanent Representation to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (1997 – 2002).

Mr. Towpik began serving in Poland’s Foreign Affairs Ministry in 1975, following his work as a research fellow at the Polish Institute of International Affairs.  From 1977 to 1981, he was appointed First Secretary of the Polish Embassy in Madrid.  He served as Deputy Director of the Planning Department at the Ministry (1981 – 1986), followed by a post as Minister-Counsellor at the Polish Mission to United Nations Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland (1986 – 1990).

After returning to Poland, the Ambassador first assumed the post of Director of the Department of European Institutions and, subsequently, that of Political Director, both at the Foreign Affairs Ministry.  In those capacities, he was engaged in implementing Poland’s integration and accession policies towards NATO and the European Union.  From 1994 to 1997, Mr. Towpik was Under-Secretary of State in charge of Polish security policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In 1961, Mr. Towpik graduated from the Main School of Foreign Service in Warsaw, Poland.  In 1964, he completed postgraduate studies at ColumbiaUniversity in New York.  He received a Doctorate of Law degree from the JagiellonianUniversity in Cracow, Poland in 1969.

Born in Brest Litovsk, Poland, in 1939, Mr. Towpik is married with two children.

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