New Permanent Observer for International Chamber of Commerce Presents Letter of Appointment

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

The new Permanent Observer for the International Chamber of Commerce to the United Nations, Louise Kantrow, presented her letter of appointment to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

Prior to her appointment as Observer, which followed the General Assembly’s decision in December 2016 to grant that status to the Chamber, Ms. Kantrow was its Permanent Representative from April 2007.  In that capacity, she was involved in multiple major United Nations conferences, including the fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, held in Istanbul, Turkey; the third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where she served as Co-Chair of the Business Sector Steering Committee; and the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

During her career, Ms. Kantrow has held positions within the United Nations, as well as senior positions with at non-profit, governmental and intergovernmental organizations closely associated with United Nations activities.  She has served as Executive Director of the International League for Human Rights and Executive Vice-President of the United Nations Association of the United States (UNA-USA).  Earlier in her career, she was Senior Adviser to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and she worked 18 years as an Economic Affairs Officer in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Ms. Kantrow holds a doctoral and a master’s degree in demography and economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and a bachelor’s from the University of Michigan.