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

Marius Grinius, the new Permanent Representative of Canada 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. Grinius had been serving, since August 2004, as Ambassador to the Republic of Korea and, concurrently, since December 2005, as the Ambassador to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Mr. Grinius joined the foreign service in 1979 and served abroad in Bangkok (twice), Brussels (NATO), Hanoi, and again in Hanoi from 1997 to 1999 as Ambassador. In Ottawa, Mr. Grinius served in the Arms Control and Disarmament Division and, later, as the Director of the Asia Pacific South Relations Division, from 1993 to 1994, and the Southeast Asia Division, from 1994 to 1997.

In 1999, Mr. Grinius transferred to the Privy Council Office and served in the Social Development Policy Secretariat. He was subsequently appointed Director-General in the Department of Western Economic Diversification, in 2001, and, in 2002, was named Director of Operations in the Security and Intelligence Secretariat at the Privy Council Office.

Mr. Grinius received a B.A. in Economics from Royal Military College in 1971. He was in commissioned military service in Canada, Great Britain and West Germany from 1971 to 1979.

Born on 21 July 1949, Mr. Grinius is married with two children.