New Permanent Observer of Sovereign Military Order of Malta Presents Letter of Appointment

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

The new Permanent Observer of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta to the United Nations, Oscar R. de Rojas, presented his letter of appointment to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today.

Prior to his appointment, Mr. de Rojas taught courses in International Development and United Nations studies at Long Island University in Brookville, New York, and served as Deputy Permanent Observer of the Order of Malta.

From 1999 until his retirement in 2009, Mr. de Rojas served as Director of the Financing for Development Office in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.  He served in the Venezuelan Foreign and Civil Services from 1972 to 1999.  From 1995 until 1999, he was the Deputy Permanent Representative of Venezuela to the United Nations in New York and that country’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva from 1987 to 1990.  Other senior-level posts he held include:  Director-General for International Economic Affairs at Venezuela’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Caracas, from 1990 to 1992; Director for International Cooperation from 1980 to 1983; and Counsellor in Venezuela’s Embassy in Paris, France from 1975 to 1977.

Mr. de Rojas holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering and master’s degrees in economics and in international affairs from Columbia University in New York, and a certificate in international economics from the Institut International d’Administration in Paris.

Born in Cuba in 1947, Mr. de Rojas is married with two children.