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

Roderick van Schreven, the new Permanent Representative of the Netherlands 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. van Schreven had been serving from April to July 2011 as the Head of the Mission of the Netherlands to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. From 2006 to 2011, he was working with the Ministry of Economic Affairs in The Hague as Director-General for Foreign Economic Relations: trade policy, trade promotion, foreign investments in the Netherlands and World Trade Organization negotiations. He served as Ambassador at the Netherlands Embassy in Damascus, Syria from 2002 to 2006. From 1998 to 2002, he served in the Foreign Ministry in The Hague as Deputy Director for European Integration. From 1993 to 1998, he served as the Netherland’s Permanent Representative to the European Union in Brussels.

Mr. van Schreven joined the Foreign Ministry of the Netherlands in 1986 and worked in the Netherlands Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela from 1987 to 1989 and at the Ministry in the Netherlands in various posts. He also worked with the Foundation of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague as executive officer in charge of the logistical implementation of the agreement between the Organization and the Netherlands from 1992 to 1993. He worked in the private sector from 1976 to 1986.

Mr. van Schreven has a degree in macro economics from the University of Geneva (1981) and a Master in business administration from INSEAD - The Business School of the World - in Fontainebleau, France (1983). He was born in Ottawa on 6 May 1954 and is married with three children.


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CR11/037E