New Permanent Representative of Samoa Presents Credentials

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

The new Permanent Representative of Samoa to the United Nations, Fatumanava-o-Upolu III Dr Pa’olelei Luteru, presented his credentials to the Secretariat today.

Prior to his latest appointment, Mr. Luteru was ambassador to Belgium and the European Union and bilaterally accredited to the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.  He was concurrently Samoa’s Permanent Representative and delegate to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

He was Samoa’s Trade Commissioner to New Zealand from 2010 to 2012; Director of Oceancrest Consultancy Ltd. in Suva, Fiji, from 2009 to 2010; Inaugural Executive Dean of the Faculty of Islands and Ocean and Director of the Alafua Campus of the University of the South Pacific in Suva from 2005 to 2009; Assistant Secretary-General of the ACP Group, Political Affairs and Human Development, in Brussels from 2000 to 2005; and Principal at Luteru and Associates Consultancy in Suva from 1996 to 2000.

Mr. Luteru received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in development economics, strategic planning, management and aid policies from Flinders University in Australia in 1991; a Master of Educational Administration degree and Diploma of Tertiary Education from the University of New England in Australia in 1983 and 1982, respectively; and a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics, economics and operational research from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

Born in Apia, Samoa, he is married and has two children.