SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS DIRK J. BRUINSMA OF NETHERLANDS AS DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL OF UNCTAD

Biographical Note

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS DIRK J. BRUINSMA OF NETHERLANDS

AS DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL OF UNCTAD

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today announced the appointment of Dirk J. Bruinsma of the Netherlands as Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in succession to Carlos Fortin.  Mr. Bruinsma, a high-ranking economic official in the Netherlands Government, will take up his new post on 1 January 2006.

Mr. Bruinsma currently serves as Director-General of Foreign Economic Relations in the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands.  After a long career in the Ministry of Finance and the private sector, including managing his own consulting firm, he joined the Ministry of Economic Affairs in 1995 as Deputy Secretary-General.  In that capacity, he was economic adviser to the Government, serving as general manager of the ministry and its agencies.

He was appointed to his present post in 2000, where his responsibilities include trade policy, European economic relations and bilateral economic relations.  He has a special interest in development cooperation and headed the Netherlands’ delegation to the economic policy committees of the European Union and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).  He became a full member of the European Union Trade Policy Committee in 2000.

In his various posts at the Ministry of Finance, where he worked from 1976 to 1991, Mr. Bruinsma specialized in transport and public works; industrial policy and energy policy; development cooperation; and defence, agriculture and fisheries.

From 1991 to 1994 he was Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of the Netherlands Credit Insurance Company (NCM) and Chairman of the Board of NCM-Netherlands.  He worked as an independent consultant from 1994 to 1995.

In addition to his government service, Mr. Bruinsma has also served on several supervisory boards in banking, industry and the public sector, and is a member of the board of several cultural and charitable organizations.

Mr. Bruinsma holds master’s degrees in mathematics and Dutch and international law, both from Leyden University.  He was born in The Hague in 1950.

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