Secretary-General Appoints Mario Samaja of Italy United Nations Resident Coordinator in Paraguay

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Mario Samaja of Italy as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Paraguay, with the host Government’s approval.

Mr. Samaja has worked with the United Nations for over 15 years at the country and regional levels.  He recently led the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Southern Africa Regional Resilience team, also serving as United Nations Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Mauritania (2015‑2018).  He has also held several leadership positions with FAO in Africa, Asia and Central Asia, including for emergency response.

Born in 1961, Mr. Samaja has a master’s degree in geological sciences from the University of Milan in Italy and completed post‑graduate coursework on “Rural development in emerging countries” at the University of Padova in Italy.

He speaks English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.