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

Ado Elhadji Abou, the new Permanent Representative of Niger 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 in Geneva, Mr. Elhadji Abou served as Minister-Counsellor at the Embassy of Niger in Abuja, Nigeria. Between October 2011 and December 2012 he was posted to Belgium where he held the post of Minister-Counsellor at the Embassy of Niger in Brussels. Previously Mr. Elhadji Abou was the Deputy Secretary-General of the Office of the President of Niger, a position he held from February 2009 to May 2011. Prior to that role, he worked as a Diplomatic Advisor in the same office, from September 2005 to February 2009.

A career diplomat, Mr. Elhadji Abou joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1987 and has held posts both in Niamey and overseas. From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Elhadji Abou was Director of the Department for Middle East and Arab Region Affairs within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1999 to 2001, he was the Chief of the United Nations and International Conferences Division. Prior to that, Mr. Elhadji Abou worked for the Development Institutions Division from 1998 to 1999. He undertook a tour of duty to Côte d'Ivoire in 1992, where he served as First Secretary at the Embassy of Niger in Abidjan, until 1997. Mr. Elhadji Abou’s first assignment in the Diplomatic Service was within the Southern Europe and Iberian Peninsula Division, where he worked from 1987 to 1992.

Mr. Elhadji completed a Master’s Degree in Economics at the University of Lomé, Togo, in 1986. He undertook diplomatic traineeships in Cameroon between 1997 and 1998, in Germany in 1988, and in Italy in 1990 and 1991. He has also attended many seminars on subjects of international relations, diplomacy and economics.

Born in Dan Mairo in the Mayahi department of Niger in 1961, Mr. Elhadji Abou is married and has four children.


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CR13/029E