Ban Ki-moon appoints new UN envoy for Iraq

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has announced to appoint Ad Melkert of Netherlands as the new UN Envoy to Iraq.

Updated on: Jul 8, 2009, 07:46:58 IST

PTI | By HT Correspondent, Washington

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The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has announced to appoint Ad Melkert of Netherlands as the new UN Envoy to Iraq.

Currently Associate Administrator of the UN Development Programme, Melkert, 53, will replace Staffan de Mistura, who would join World Food Programme.

"Melkert brings to the new position a unique combination of extensive political experience, as a former Member of Parliament and Minister in the Netherlands, and economic and development expertise from his time at UNDP and the World Bank," UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said on Tuesday.

"As a result, he enters with a deep understanding of the nature of challenges and priorities that face Iraq at this phase of its transition," Montas told reporters at her daily press briefing at the UN headquarters in New York.

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