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

Nanguyalai Tarzi, the new Permanent Representative of Afghanistan 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, from December 2002 to December 2006, Mr. Tarzi had been Afghanistan's Ambassador to Pakistan. He was Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Tehran from January 2001 to November 2002. Mr. Tarzi also participated in the Emergency Loya Jirga (Grand Assembly), in Kabul, June 2002.

From 1992 to 2000, Mr. Tarzi was the Permanent Observer of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to the United Nations Office at Geneva. Simultaneously, from August 1997 to January 2000, he served as Permanent Observer of the OIC to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the United Nations Office at Vienna. From 1986 to 1992, Mr. Tarzi held the post of Deputy Permanent Observer of the OIC to the United Nations in New York, and from 1979 to 1986 was a political advisor to the OIC Permanent Mission to the United Nations. Earlier, in the 1970s, he had served as the second secretary at the Afghan Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Tarzi began his career as a professor at the Faculty of Law and Political Science in Kabul in 1964, and began his diplomatic career in 1970, working for the Department of Information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul.

For his outstanding contribution to Afghanistan, Mr. Tarzi has received an appreciation award from President Hamid Karzai.

Mr. Tarzi graduated from Kabul University with a degree in Law and Diplomatic Relations in 1964. He then went on to complete a doctorate in International Public Law at the Faculté de Droit et Sciences Economiques in Paris, France, in 1970.

Born on 28 December 1940, Mr. Tarzi is married with two children.


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