NEW PERMANENT OBSERVER OF THE EUROPEAN UNION PRESENTS LETTER OF NOMINATION TO THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE AT GENEVA

Walter Stevens, the new Permanent Observer of the European Union to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented his letter of nomination to Michael Møller, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Prior to his appointment, Mr. Stevens, a Belgian national, had served as the Permanent Chair of the European Union Political and Security Committee since July 2013, and as the Director of the Crisis Management and Planning Directorate at the European External Action Service from April 2011 to June 2013.

From September 2009 until March 2011, he was the Permanent Representative of Belgium to the European Union Political and Security Committee and to the West European Union. Prior to that, he served as the Chief of Staff of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Belgium (July 2007 – August 2009); Deputy Chief of Staff of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium (July 2004 – June 2007); Chief of Staff of the Minister of Development Cooperation of Belgium (July 2003 – June 2004); and as the diplomatic advisor to the Prime Minister of Belgium (April 2000 – June 2003).

During his diplomatic career, which began in 1985, Mr. Stevens served in Nigeria, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and at the Permanent Mission of Belgium to the United Nations Office at Geneva from October 1990 to August 1992.

Mr. Stevens holds a master’s degree in political and social sciences from the Catholic University Leuven, as well as a post-graduate degree from the Centre for Developing Countries at the Université Catholique Louvain-la-Neuve. Born in 1956, he is married and has two children.


For use of the information media; not an official record

CR/18/032E