New Permanent Representative of Mauritius Presents Credentials

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

The new Permanent Representative of Mauritius to the United Nations, Jagdish Dharamchand Koonjul, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today.

Prior to his appointment, Mr. Koonjul served since July 2015 as Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Mauritius and from 2011 to 2015 as his country’s Ambassador to Belgium and Permanent Representative to the European Union.

Mr. Koonjul also served as Ambassador/Head of Bilateral Directorate for Asia and the Middle East from 2006 to 2011, prior to which he was Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Mauritius to the United Nations in New York (2001 to 2006).

During his previous tenure at the United Nations, he served as Vice-President of the Economic and Social Council from 2003 to 2004; as his country’s chief representative to the Security Council from 2001 to 2002; and as President of the Security Council in January 2002.  From 2003 to 2006, he served as Chairman of the Alliance of Small Island Developing States.

He has also been actively involved in marine and oceanography issues, serving as Team Leader of the Mauritius Continental Shelf Project from 2008 to date.  In 2009, he was Team Leader for Strategic Planning of the Mauritius Oceanography Institute.

Mr. Konjool holds a bachelor’s degree with honours from the University of Bombay, India.  He is married and has four children.