NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNOG

Dennis Francis, the new Permanent Representative of Trinidad and Tobago 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. Francis had been serving as Ambassador to the Dominican Republic and concurrently as Dean of the Diplomatic Corps of Jamaica since 2004. From 2000 to 2004, he was the Permanent Representative of Trinidad and Tobago to the International Seabed Authority and, notably, was elected as President of the Assembly of the International Seabed Authority at its tenth session in 2004. In 1999, Mr. Francis was appointed High Commissioner to Jamaica, a post which he held for two years while also serving as Ambassador-designate, in 1999, to Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. In 1997 he was Director of the European Affairs Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in 1996 he served as Deputy Director of International Economic and Trade Relations at the Foreign Ministry. From 1988 to1996 Mr. Francis worked at the Consulate General of Trinidad and Tobago in Toronto, Canada, starting as a foreign service officer and later becoming Deputy Consul General.

Mr. Francis has been a member of or led numerous diplomatic delegations of his country to various conferences and events worldwide, notably with reference to Caribbean Community (CARICOM) activities. Among other similar appointments, in April 2003, he led a delegation to the Sixteenth meeting of the Bureau of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of CARICOM, and in July 2002, led his Government's mission for bilateral talks with Costa Rica on cooperation in air transport, trade and tourism.

Mr. Francis holds a Master of Arts in International Affairs (1985) from John Hopkins University in Washington, D.C., and a post graduate diploma in International Relations, with honours, from the University of the West Indies (1982). He received a bachelor's degree in Geography (B.A.) from the University of the West Indies in 1979.

Mr. Francis was born in Trinidad and Tobago on 27 November 1956.