Secretary-General Appoints Dirk Wagener of Germany United Nations Resident Coordinator in Fiji

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed Dirk Wagener of Germany as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Fiji, with the host Government’s approval.  Based in Fiji, he will also coordinate United Nations development operations in Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.  He took up his post on 15 July.

Mr. Wagener has more than 20 years of experience in the United Nations system serving in various capacities in the fields of sustainable development and poverty reduction, peacebuilding and conflict prevention, gender equality, humanitarian assistance, green economy and environmental protection. 

Prior to his appointment as United Nations Resident Coordinator, he served as United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Papua New Guinea where he also led the United Nations country team as acting United Nations Resident Coordinator for over one year.  In this role he chaired the intergovernmental negotiations between the Government of Papua New Guinea and the Autonomous Bougainville Government on the implementation of the Bougainville Peace Agreement and negotiated an agreement on a joint road map towards the settlement of the final political status of the autonomous region.

Prior to this, he served in various field and headquarters assignments with UNDP and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Africa, and Asia and the Pacific, including as Coordinator for the global Resource Efficiency Programme in the UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.  He also served as Team Leader for Partnerships and Management Support with UNDP in Ethiopia, as acting Deputy Resident Representative and Assistant Resident Representative with UNDP in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, as Management Adviser with UNDP in Cambodia, as well as Assistant Resident Representative and Programme Specialist with UNDP in Papua New Guinea where he started his United Nations career in 2002.

Prior to joining the United Nations, Mr. Wagener started his professional career volunteering and working with non-governmental organizations in India as Rural Development Officer and as an agronomist in Germany.

Mr. Wagener obtained his master’s degree in international agricultural sciences (rural development) and his bachelor’s degree in agronomy from the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany.