NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF TONGA PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

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

Fekitamoeloa 'Utoikamanu, the new Permanent Representative of Tonga to the United Nations, today presented her credentials to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

For the past three years, Ms. 'Utoikamanu served as the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and National Authorizing Officer in Tonga’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  From 1991 to 2002, she was the Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Deputy National Authorizing Officer.

Ms. 'Utoikamanu began her career with the Ministry more than two decades ago, when, from 1983 to 1986, she served as a Macroeconomist in the Central Planning Department.  In 1987, she was named Acting Deputy Secretary in Tonga’s Ministry of Finance, and then she moved back to the Foreign Ministry, where from 1988 to 1991, she served as Acting Planning Officer in the Central Planning Department.

She was educated at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, where she received a Bachelor of Commerce in Economics (1980), and a Masters in Commerce in Economics (1983).

Born in December 1959, Ms. 'Utoikamanu is married with one daughter.

* *** *