Secretary-General Appoints Zia Choudhury of Bangladesh United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ghana

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Zia Choudhury of Bangladesh as United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ghana, with the host Government’s approval.  His appointment is effective 21 June.

Mr. Choudhury brings over 25 years of experience in development and humanitarian action.  Prior to this appointment, he served as United Nations Resident Coordinator in Botswana since January 2020.

He began his development career as a national field officer on a remote, disaster-prone island in the Bay of Bengal and has since held coordination and leadership roles across Africa, Asia and Europe.  He has held senior positions in non-governmental organizations, developed policy and practice on humanitarian quality standards and founded a social enterprise focused on ethical food.  He has also served on several non-governmental organization boards.

Among his various postings, Mr. Choudhury served as Country Director for CARE in Sudan and in Bangladesh.  In the latter, he led a team of over 1,200 staff implementing development and humanitarian programmes, including one of the largest responses to the Rohingya refugee crisis.

Mr. Choudhury holds a Bachelor of Arts in geography from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and a Master of Science in management and implementation of development projects from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom.  He is married with three children.

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* This supersedes Press Release SG/A/1912-BIO/5264 of 1 October 2019.