NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNOG

Bashar Ja'Afari, the new Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic 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. Ja'Afari had been serving as Director of the Department of International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Damascus since 2002.

Mr. Ja'Afari served as chargé d'affaires at the Syrian Embassy in Jakarta from 1998 to 2002. From 1997 to 1998, he was a Minister Counsellor at the Syrian Embassy in Paris from 1997 to 1998. From 1991 to 1994, he served as First Secretary and then Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Syria to the United Nations in New York. He also worked at the Syrian Embassy in Paris from 1983 to 1988.

Mr. Ja'Afari joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1981. He has a degree in French literature (1977) and a degree in higher studies in translation and Arabization (1978) from the University of Damascus. He also has a degree in international politics from the Institute for National Public Administration in Paris and a higher degree specializing in international organizations from the University of Sceaux (Paris XI-1982).

He has a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Sceaux (1984), a Ph.D. in political science from the Sorbonne University (Paris V-1989), and a Ph.D. in history and Islamic civilization in Southeast Asia from the University of Sharif Hedayatulla in Jakarta (2002).

Born on 14 April 1956 in Damascus, Mr. Ja'Afari speaks Arabic, French, English, German and Persian. He is married and has three children.

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