New Permanent Representative of Afghanistan Presents Credentials

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

The new Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations, Ghulam M. Isaczai, presented his credentials to the Secretariat today.

A development and humanitarian emergency professional with more than 25 years of experience, Mr. Isaczai has held posts throughout the United Nations system spanning 10 countries.  In 2016, he was appointed to serve as United Nations Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan, prior to which he served as Resident Coordinator, and Resident Representative for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.  In 2008, he became Director of Programme at the United Nations Volunteers headquarters in Bonn, Germany, where he oversaw operations in more than 100 countries.

Mr. Isaczai has held a range of leadership positions within UNDP, including Senior Adviser and Country Director ad interim in Tajikistan; Deputy Representative and Head of Programme in Nepal; and Assistant Resident Representative in Yemen.  In 2003, he served as Senior Programme Adviser to UNDP and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), and from 1997 to 2001 he worked with the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Syria.

Prior to joining the United Nations, he worked in the private sector and held positions with the non-governmental organizations Save the Children-US and the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan.

Mr. Isaczai holds a master’s degree in public international law from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Midland University and a certificate in negotiating from Harvard University, in the United States.

He is married and has three children.