Biographical Note

NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF TOGO PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

 

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

Roland Yao Kpostra, the new Permanent Representative of Togo to the United Nations, today presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Kpostra was Diplomatic Adviser to the President of Togo, starting in 2005.  From July 2003 to June 2005, he served as Togo’s Minister for Human Rights and Democratization, and from December 2002 to July 2003, he was the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Mr. Kpostra previously served as Togo’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, from December 1996 to December 2002.

He served in several capacities in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, from the time he entered the political sphere in 1974.  He was the Permanent Secretary from March 1993 to November 1996, and, prior to that, he was an official representative from September 1992 to March 1993.

From October 1987 to August 1990, Mr. Kpostra was the Ministry’s Director of Administration and Personnel.  Several years earlier, from July 1982 to January 1988, he was Director of the Division of Treaties and Legal Questions.  Earlier, he worked in the Division of Administration, and, later, the Division of Legal and Political Affairs.

Other posts in the service of his country included Chargé d’Affaires in Zimbabwe from September 1990 to June 1991.  In September 1980, he was appointed First Counsellor in the Embassy of Togo in Brazil, where he served for two years.  From September 1976 to August 1980, he served first as Under-Secretary, and subsequently, as Senior Counsellor in the Permanent Mission to the United Nations.

Concurrent to his political duties, between 1984 and 1990, Mr. Kpostra lectured in diplomatic history, negotiation skills, and communication skills at the prestigious École Nationale d’Administration.

Mr. Kpostra is an officer of the Order of the Mono ( Togo) and a Knight of the National Order of Merit ( Togo).  He is fluent in French, English and Portuguese.

He holds several degrees, including in 1973 from the Institut International d’Administration Publique, in Paris, and, in 1974, a higher technical postgraduate diploma in political science from the University of Paris I.  He received his Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Bordeaux in 1972, and his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1968 from Lycée de Tokoin, Lomé, Togo.

Born on 20 February, 1947, Mr. Kpostra is married, with three children.

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For information media • not an official record