NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF UNITED KINGDOM PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNOG

Peter Gooderham, the new Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom 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. Gooderham had been serving as the Director of the Middle East and North Africa Department at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office since 2004. He was the United Kingdom’s Representative to the European Union’s Political and Security Committee in Brussels from 2003 to 2004.

A career diplomat, Mr. Gooderham served as Political Counsellor at the British Embassy in Washington from 1999 to 2003. He was a Counsellor covering economic, environment, human rights and social issues at the United Kingdom’s Mission to UN Headquarters in New York from 1996 to 1999. From 1993 to 1996, he was the Deputy Head of the Security Policy Department at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, covering issues on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and arms control. He served as First Secretary for economic issues at the United Kingdom’s Embassy in Riyadh from 1990 to 1993. Other duties include serving as Head of the Nigeria Section at the West Africa Department from 1987 to 1990; First Secretary for arms control at the United Kingdom’s delegation to NATO from 1985 to 1987; and Assistant Desk Officer at the Falkland Islands Department from 1983 to 1985.

Before joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1983, Mr. Gooderham served as a Research Fellow at Birmingham University from 1981 to 1983 and a Research Fellow at Essex University from 1979 to 1981. He has a BA in politics and economics from the University of Newcastle (1975) and a PhD in modern history from the University of Bristol (1978). Born on 29 July 1954, he is married