SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS AFSANE BASSIR-POUR LAVOLLAY DIRECTOR OF REGIONAL UN INFORMATION CENTRE IN BRUSSELS

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS AFSANE BASSIR-POUR LAVOLLAY

DIRECTOR OF REGIONAL UN INFORMATION CENTRE IN BRUSSELS

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed Afsane Bassir-Pour Lavollay as Director of the Regional United Nations Information Centre in Brussels, Belgium.  Ms. Bassir-Pour will take up her duties on 25 October and succeeds Hassen Fodha, who has retired from the service of the Organization.

Ms. Bassir-Pour, a national of France, has been the bureau chief and international correspondent for Le Monde in Switzerland since 2002.  Prior to this assignment, she was its bureau chief and diplomatic correspondent at UN Headquarters in New York for 13 years, responsible for establishing the newspaper’s first full-time staff bureau there.  Ms. Bassir-Pour helped create, and has been a commentator for CNN’s programme on the United Nations, Diplomatic License.  She also served as Vice President of the UN Correspondents Association.

Ms. Bassir-Pour was a moderator at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos and has participated in various forums on multilateralism and the role of the United Nations.  She has also been an instructor for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on communication and information skills.  Ms. Bassir-Pour has previously reported for the Voice of America, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and Radio France Internationale. 

Ms. Bassir-Pour holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Tehran.  She is married and has one daughter.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record