UNITED NATIONS, Sept 27 (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has named a veteran Turkish diplomat as his new special envoy for assistance to Pakistan, the U.N. press office said on Monday.
Turkey’s Rauf Engin Soysal will be replacing Jean-Maurice Ripert, France’s former U.N. ambassador, who was named to the U.N. Pakistan aid post in August 2009. It was not immediately clear whether Ripert would take on another U.N. post, officials at the world body said.
The Turkish diplomat “brings to this position extensive experience in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy and in depth knowledge of the region,” the U.N. press office said in a statement.
Soysal is currently Turkey’s under secretary for political affairs and was Ankara’s ambassador to Pakistan from 2007 to 2009. (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Paul Simao)
, 27 Sept 2010