Biographical Note

NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF BRAZIL PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

 

(Based on information provided by the Protocol and Liaison Service.)

Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, the new Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations, presented her credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today.

Prior to her new appointment, she was Director-General of the Department of International Organizations in the Ministry of External Relations, a position she assumed after having served in the same capacity in the Department of Human Rights and Social Affairs.  As head of the Ministry’s South America Division before that, she was in charge of relations with Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile.

In a previous stint at Brazil’s Permanent Mission in New York, Ms. Viotti served as Vice-Chairperson of the Preparatory Committee for the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, prior to which she led her country’s delegation to the negotiations in preparation for the International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico.  She was also a member of the Economic and Social Council’s Ad Hoc Group on Guinea-Bissau.

Joining the Foreign Service in 1976, Ms. Viotti’s first posting abroad was to the United Nations in New York (1985-1988).  Upon returning home, she served as Executive Coordinator in the Cabinet of the Minister for External Relations.  As a Counsellor, she directed the economic sector of the Brazilian Embassy in La Paz, Bolivia.

Ms. Viotti holds a bachelor’s degree in economics (1979) from the University of Brasilia, where she also concluded a post-graduate course in 1981.  She also attended the Rio Branco Institute, the Brazilian diplomatic academy.

Born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in 1954, she is married and has a son.

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For information media • not an official record