Secretary-General Appoints Tadamichi Yamamoto of Japan Deputy Special Representative of United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Tadamichi Yamamoto of Japan as his Deputy Special Representative for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).  He succeeds Nicholas Haysom of South Africa, who served in this critical role since March 2012.

Mr. Yamamoto is a Japanese diplomat with 40 years of professional experience in political affairs, international cooperation and economic development, spanning several continents.  Most recently, Mr. Yamamoto served as Ambassador to Hungary.  From 2010 to 2012, he was the Special Representative of the Government of Japan for Afghanistan and Pakistan.  In that capacity, he facilitated preparations of the Tokyo Conference on Afghanistan in 2012, which resulted in the Tokyo Mutual Accountability Framework, a mechanism to review progress towards Afghanistan’s sustainable development.

He has held several positions with Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ranging from Director-General of the Public Diplomacy Department to Ambassador in charge of International Counter-Terrorism and Reconstruction Assistance to Iraq.  He also served as the Permanent Delegate of Japan to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Mr. Yamamoto holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.  Born in Japan in 1950, he is married and has two children.