Biographical Note

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS CHEICK SIDI DIARRA OF MALI AS HIGH REPRESENTATIVE

FOR LEAST DEVELOPED, LANDLOCKED DEVELOPING, SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced today the appointment of Cheikh Sidi Diarra of Mali as High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.  Mr. Diarra replaces Anwarul Chowdhury and currently serves as Permanent Representative of Mali to the United Nations in New York.  He is expected to take up his new functions in early August.

Ambassador Diarra has over 25 years of professional experience in international relations, law and development.  He has advanced first-hand knowledge and experience of bilateral and multilateral relations, and proven skills in international negotiations and international consensus-building.  He was also involved in Mali’s national reconciliation efforts that paved the road to the country’s peaceful and democratic development.

Mr. Diarra has been actively involved in furthering African integration efforts and the African development agenda at the international level.  He has served as one of the lead negotiators on these issues at African Union summits since 1982.  Multilateral diplomacy has been the major area of his long diplomatic career.  From his decade-long experience dealing with the United Nations, he acquired first-hand knowledge and experience of multifaceted issues of the United Nations and its intergovernmental processes in particular.  Ambassador Diarra made important contributions to the reform process of the United Nations aimed at strengthening the Organization’s global role in economic and development matters.

He co-chaired the open-ended informal consultations on strengthening the role of the Economic and Social Council that resulted in the adoption of General Assembly resolution 61/16.  He also co-chaired the informal consultations on resolution 60/265 on follow-up to the development outcome of the 2005 World Summit, including the Millennium Development Goals.  Mr. Diarra is also part of the informal group of ambassadors known as the “Friends of the system-wide coherence”.  He has been an active advocate for the cause of Africa, the least developed countries and landlocked developing countries as his country uniquely represents all three groups of countries.  Because of his well-known efforts, he was recently elected Chairman of the Group of Landlocked Developing Countries.

Mr. Diarra obtained masters degrees in international public law and international relations from Dakar University in Senegal.  He was born on 31 May 1957 in Kayes, Mali.  He is married with two children.

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