NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF BELGIUM PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNITED NATIONS OFFICE AT GENEVA

Bertrand de Crombrugghe de Picquendaele, the new Permanent Representative of Belgium to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented his credentials to Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Prior to his appointment to Geneva, Mr. de Crombrugghe de Picquendaele was the Director for Asia and Oceania at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brussels. From 2009 to 2010 he served as ASEM (Asia–Europe Meeting) Senior Official for Belgium, leading a Task Force in charge of the preparations for the ASEM (Asia–Europe Meeting) 8 Brussels Summit of 4 – 5 October 2010, also within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr. de Crombrugghe de Picquendaele served as the Belgium Ambassador to Russia from 2008 to 2009, and prior to that he was the Permanent Representative of Belgium to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna, with responsibility for the Belgian Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Chairmanship-in-Office, a post he held from 2003 to 2008. From 2001 to 2003 Mr. de Crombrugghe de Picquendaele was based in Brussels filling the post of Deputy Chief of Staff of the Cabinet of Vice-Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Louis Michel. In that role he was responsible for Common Foreign and Security Policy, with a focus on Transatlantic relations and relations with Central and Eastern Europe.

Mr. de Crombrugghe de Picquendaele served as Deputy Director General in charge of transatlantic relations and multilateral affairs, including World Trade Organization negotiations, from 1999 to 2001, based at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1994 to 1999 he held the position of Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Belgium to the European Union, where he was also responsible for trade negotiation and transatlantic relations. In his early career Mr. de Crombrugghe de Picquendaele undertook tours of duty to the United States and Tunisia, where he served respectively as First Secretary at the Embassy of Belgium in Washington, and as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Belgium in Tunis, between 1988 and 1994. A professional lawyer, Mr. de Crombrugghe de Picquendaele joined the Belgium Foreign Service in 1996 following four years practising law at the Brussels Bar, from 1982 to 1986.

Mr. de Crombrugghe de Picquendaele has a Masters degree in International Relations from the John Hopkins University in Washington, United States. He also holds a Licence in Law jointly from Katholieke University Leuven and the University of Namur, both in Belgium. Between 1981 and 1982 he completed an internship with the Delegation of the European Commission to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in Geneva.
Born on 3 October 1955, Mr. de Crombrugghe de Picquendaele has three children.


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CR12/025E