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

Shinichi Kitajima, the new Permanent Representative of Japan 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. Kitajima had been serving as Permanent Representative of Japan to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development since 2005. From 2002 to 2005, he served as Deputy Vice-Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. He was the Director-General of the Economic Affairs Bureau at the Ministry from 2001 to 2002.

Mr. Kitajima has held various high-level posts at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including from 1996 to 1998 as Director of the Policy Coordination Division of the Foreign Policy Bureau; from 1995 to 1996 as Deputy Director-General for General Affairs at the Economic Affairs Bureau; from 1993 to 1995 as Director of the Aid-Policy Division of the Economic Cooperation Bureau and from 1990 to 1993 as Director of the GATT Division of the Economic Affairs Bureau. From 1983 to 1988 he was the Deputy Director of the Economic and Trade Affairs Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ North American Affairs Bureau.

A career diplomat, Mr. Kitajima’s foreign posts include serving as Minister for Economic Affairs at the Embassy of Japan in Washington between 2000 and 2001. Between 1998 and 2000 he served as Consul General of Japan in Boston, Massachusetts. From 1988 to 1990, he was Political Counsellor at the Embassy of Japan in Washington. He was also First Secretary at the Embassy of Japan in Singapore from 1981 to 1983 and, from 1979 to 1981 served as Second Secretary at the Embassy of Japan in London.

Mr. Kitajima holds a B.A. from Keio University in Tokyo and an M.A. from University College in Oxford, England. He was born in 1946 in Tokyo.


For use of the information media; not an official record

CR08015E