ORG/1372
17 January 2003
Joint Inspection Unit Elects Chairman and Vice-Chairman
(Reissued as received.)
GENEVA, 15 January (UN Information Service) -- At the first meeting of its winter 2003 session, on 14 January 2003, the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) elected Inspector Armando Duque-González (Colombia) as its Chairman and Inspector Ion Gorita (Romania) as its Vice-Chairman for the current calendar year.
Chairman Duque-González served as a staff member of the United Nations Secretariat from September 1958 to September 1993, when he took early retirement, after 35 years of service. During his career in the Secretariat he performed increasingly responsible functions in administrative, financial and management questions, the last of which were those of Director of Personnel of the United Nations Secretariat and Security Coordinator for the United Nations system and Director of Administrative Services at the United Nations Office at Geneva, the second largest office of the United Nations after the New York Headquarters. During his service and after retirement he undertook several assignments as Senior Consultant for the Executive Office of the Secretary-General on important management issues. He was appointed by the General Assembly to serve as Inspector, Joint Inspection Unit, from 1 January 1999 -- the first former United Nations career official and the first Colombian national to be appointed to such a position. He has served as Vice-Chairman of the Unit since 2001.
Vice Chairman Gorita was Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Romania to the United Nations from 1994 to 2000. He joined the Foreign Ministry of his country in 1961 and has served in various diplomatic assignments since then, including service from 1966 to 1970 at the Permanent Mission of Romania to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva, and at United Nations Headquarters, New York, from 1973 to 1978. Prior to his appointment as Ambassador to the United Nations in 1994, he served at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bucharest, as Head, International Economic Organizations (1981-1988), Deputy Director, Department for Asia and the Far East (1988-1989), Director, European Department (1990-1992) and State Secretary for European Affairs (1992-1994).
Current members of the Joint Inspection Unit, in addition to the Chairman and Vice-Chairman are:
Mrs. Doris BERTRAND (Austria),
Mr. Even FONTAINE-ORTIZ (Cuba),
Mr. Sumihiro KUYAMA (Japan),
Mr. Wolfgang MÜNCH (Germany),
Mr. Louis-Dominique OUEDRAOGO (Burkina Faso),
Mr. Guanging TANG (China),
Mr. Victor VISLYKH (Russian Federation),
Mrs. M. Deborah WYNES (United States of America) and
Mr. Muhammad YUSSUF (United Republic of Tanzania).
The Joint Inspection Unit of the United Nations System is the only external oversight body of the United Nations system, responsible for conducting inspections, evaluations and investigations regarding all matters having a bearing on the efficiency of the participating organizations and the proper use of resources. Further information on the Joint Inspection Unit may be found at the Unit's web-page: www.unsystem.org/jiu/
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