New Permanent Representative of New Zealand Presents Credentials

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

The new Permanent Representative of New Zealand to the United Nations, Carolyn Schwalger, presented her credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

Prior to her appointment, Ms. Schwalger was the inaugural Chief Executive of the National Emergency Management Agency from 2019, having been seconded to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to lead the establishment of the agency.  Ms. Schwalger was also a member of the COVID-19 National Response Leadership Team.

Between 2017 and 2019, Ms. Schwalger was Deputy Secretary and Principal Capability Adviser at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, leading a programme of organizational capability improvement.

Ms. Schwalger served as Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2014 to 2017, a period which included the country’s non-permanent membership in the Security Council.

Prior to her posting to New York, Ms. Schwalger was responsible for her country’s international environmental diplomacy programme, championing the development of the Ross Sea marine protected area in the Southern Ocean as Commissioner to the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.

Ms. Schwalger’s early diplomatic career focused on North Asia, with postings to Seoul between 1998 and 2002 and thereafter to Tokyo until 2006.

Ms. Schwalger was educated at the University of Auckland and Yonsei University in Seoul.