Biographical Note

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS ATUL KHARE OF INDIA

 

AS NEW SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR TIMOR-LESTE

 

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed Atul Khare of India as his Special Representative for Timor-Leste and Head of the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT).  Mr. Khare has replaced Mr. Sukehiro Hasegawa of Japan, whose appointment expired on 30 September 2006.

Mr. Khare served with the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET) from June 2002 until its completion in May 2005, first as Chief of Staff and later as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General.  Prior to joining the United Nations, Mr. Khare had been a member of the Indian foreign service.

His diplomatic career, which began in 1984, included postings as Deputy High Commissioner of India to Mauritius, Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in New York and Chargé d’affaires of the Indian Embassy in Senegal with concurrent accreditation to Mali, Mauritania, Gambia, Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde.  At the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, he has held the posts of Chef de Cabinet of the Foreign Secretary of India and of Director of the United Nations Division.

Since 2005, Mr. Khare has served as Director of the Nehru Centre and Minister (Culture) of the High Commission of India in London.

Born in 1959, Mr. Khare holds a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery (with honours) from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, master’s degrees in business administration and in leadership from the University of Southern Queensland and an advanced diploma (with distinction) in French from the Indian Defence School of Languages.

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