Biographical Note

NEW PERMANENT OBSERVER FOR GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL PRESENTS APPOINTMENT LETTER

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

Abdullah Salim Al-Harthy, the new Permanent Observer for the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf to the United Nations, presented his letter of appointment to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today.

Prior to his new assignment, Mr. Al-Harthy, a national of Oman, served as Deputy Head of the Gulf Cooperation Council delegation to the European Union in Brussels from 2007.  Between 1994 and 2006, he held several positions in his country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including that of Counsellor and Director of Legal Affairs, Counsellor and Director of European and American Affairs, and First Secretary and Political Analyst in Arab Affairs.

Having first joined the Omani Foreign Service in 1992, he was appointed Second Secretary in the Department of Arab Affairs and was later posted to Oman’s Embassy in the United Kingdom, where he served until 1993.

Mr. Al-Harthy earned a Doctor of Philosophy in arts from the University of Hull, United Kingdom, and a Bachelor of Arts from Sultan Qaboos University in Oman.

Born in 1956, Mr. Al-Harthy speaks Arabic and English.

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