NEW PERMANENT OBSERVER OF THE EUROPEAN UNION PRESENTS LETTER OF NOMINATION TO DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNITED NATIONS OFFICE IN GENEVA

Mariangela Zappia, the new Permanent Observer of the European Union to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented her letter of nomination to Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Prior to her appointment to Geneva, Ms. Zappia had been serving since 2007 as Ministre Plenipotentiary of the Mission of Italy to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva. Ms. Zappia is a high-ranking Italian diplomat with over 25 years of extensive and diverse experience, especially focused on multilateral affairs, institutional communication and information and press and media relations.

Ms. Zappia served at the Mission of Italy to the United Nations in New York from 2000 to 2003. She served at the Italian Embassy in Brussels from 1997 to 1999. In 1999 she was detached, upon conferment of a special assignment, to the NATO media task force during the conflict in Kosovo. From 1993 to 1997, she served in the Press and Information Service and Office of the Spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome. She has held other positions in New York (1990 to 1993), Dakar (1986 to 1990), and Rome (1983 to 1986).

Ms. Zappia has a Master degree in political science-international relations from the University of Florence, where she also attended a post-graduate course in diplomatic and international relations. She has followed periodic high-level training courses in diplomatic practice and management at the Diplomatic Academy of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome. She is married and has two children.


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CR11/013E