Biographical Note

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS ELLEN MARGRETHE LØJ OF DENMARK

AS SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR LIBERIA

 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Ellen Margrethe Løj of Denmark as his Special Representative for Liberia.  Ms. Løj replaces Alan Doss of the United Kingdom.

Currently Ambassador of Denmark to the Czech Republic, Ms. Løj was Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2001 to 2007.

She was State Secretary of the South Group in Denmark’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 2001, after serving two terms as the Group’s Under-Secretary-General, first for multilateral and then bilateral affairs.  Prior to those Ministry postings, she served as her country’s Ambassador to Israel from 1989 to 1992.

Ms. Løj began her diplomatic career with a Foreign Ministry position in 1973.  Between 1977 and 1986, she served as Secretary in her country’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, and then as Counsellor within the European Commission in Brussels.  From 1986 to 1989, she was Head of Department in the Ministry.

In addition to her diplomatic appointments, Ms. Løj has been on the supervisory board of Scandlines AG and Scandlines A/S since 1998.  From 1994 to 1996, she was a member of two advisory boards, that of the Industrialization Fund for Developing Countries and that of the Investment Fund for Central and Eastern Europe.

Born on 17 October 1948 in Gedesby, Denmark, Ms. Løj graduated from Copenhagen University in 1973 with a master’s degree in political science.  She is single and has no children.

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*     This supersedes Press Release BIO/3362 of 23 May 2001.

For information media • not an official record