Japanese diplomat takes over Tharoor's relinquished post

UNITED NATIONS: Veteran Japanese diplomat Kiyotaka Akasaka began his tenure as the new chief of the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI).

Akasaka, who succeeds Shashi Tharoor of India as the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, took over the post on Monday.

Tharoor had submitted his resignation after Ban Ki-moon defeated him for the race to Secretary-General of the organisation.

The new Under-Secretary-General comes to the UN from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, where he served as Deputy Secretary-General since August 2003.

Akasaka served as Japan's Ambassador to the UN between 2000 and 2001, and was Deputy Director-General in the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Multilateral Cooperation Department from 1997 to 2000, participating as one of his country's top
negotiators in the Kyoto Conference on Climate Change and various other international meetings.

He has also held posts at the Secretariat of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), precursor of the UN World Trade Organisation (WTO), and at the UN World Health Organisation (WHO).