NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF ALGERIA PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

Biographical Note

NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF ALGERIA PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

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

Youcef Yousfi, the new Permanent Representative of Algeria to the United Nations, today presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Yousfi served as his country’s Ambassador to Canada, a post he took up in 2001.  He has also held a number of positions within the Algerian Government, having been appointed Minister-Delegate to the Chief of Government in 2000, and Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1999.

In 1996, Mr. Yousfi was appointed Chief of Staff to then President Liamine Zeroual.  One year later, he was appointed Minister of Energy and Mines.  Also in 1997, he was elected to the National People’s Assembly.  In addition, he served as Chairman of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1998 and 1999. 

Mr. Yousfi became Chairman of the Board of the Mines, Petroleum and Hydraulics Participating Fund in 1988.  In 1985, he became Chief Executive Officer of Sonatrach, the national company for petroleum, where he had previously served as Vice-President in charge of marketing. 

Mr. Yousfi was a senior lecturer, and then professor, of chemical engineering at the Ecole Nationale Polytechnique d’Algérie, as well as at the Houari Boumediene University of Sciences and Technology in Algiers, where he was also Director of the Chemistry Institute.  He was also in charge of petroleum affairs at the Ministry of Industry and Energy, while carrying out his teaching activities.   

Having graduated from the Ecole NationaleSupérieure des Industries Chimiques (France), Mr. Yousfi obtained a PhD in Physics from the Université de Nancy, France, in 1973.  He also has a degree in economics.

Born in Batna, Algeria, on 2 October 1941, Mr. Yousfi is married with three children. 

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