NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF MALDIVES PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNOG

Hassan Sobir, the new Permanent Representative of the Maldives to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented his credentials to Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Prior to his appointment to Geneva, Mr. Sobir served in numerous high-level posts in government in the Maldives. From 1998 to 2004, Mr. Sobir served as Minister of Tourism. In 1993 he served as Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture. He was Deputy Minister of Planning and Environment in 1991, and in 1989 held the post of Director of Statistical Services of the National Planning Agency. From 1982 to 1988 he held senior posts at the Ministry of Planning and Development. Prior to that, starting in 1978, he served in a statistical capacity at the National Planning Agency, becoming the Assistant Director in 1981.

Mr. Sobir has also served as Chairman of the Tourism Advisory Board and the Tourism Promotion Advisory Committee. He was Commissioner of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Independent Commission of Poverty Alleviation and Governor of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, in addition to serving on numerous governmental advisory boards.

Mr. Sobir has completed several courses of graduate study abroad in statistical analysis and management, including at the Department of Labour in the United States in 1986, at the International Training Institute in Sydney, Australia, in 1984, and at the Statistics Institute of Asia and the Pacific in Japan, in 1981. He received his bachelor's degree in commerce in India in 1978.

Born on 5 August 1951 in Male, the Maldives, Mr. Sobir is married with two children.

For use of the information media; not an official record