SG/A/1016
BIO/3790
PKO/144
25 August 2006

Biographical Note

Secretary-General Names Joachim Rücker of Germany Special Representative for Kosovo

NEW YORK, 24 August (UN Headquarters) -- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed Joachim Rücker of Germany as his Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) as of 1 September 2006.

Most recently, Mr. Rücker was the Deputy Special Representative and Head of the Economic Reconstruction component in UNMIK.  He had previously served as the Commissioner for Finance and Head of the Budget and Finance Division at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin and held various postings in the Federal Foreign Office in Bonn and German embassies abroad, including Dar es Salaam, Detroit (Consulate-General) and Vienna.  Mr. Rücker was also the Ambassador and Deputy High Representative for Administration and Finance in the Office of the High Representative in Sarajevo and the Mayor of the city of Sindelfingen, Germany.

Mr. Rücker has a doctoral degree in international economics and has previously served as a foreign policy adviser to the Social Democratic parliamentary group in the German Bundestag.

Born on 30 May 1951, Mr. Rücker has two daughters and one son.

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