Koïchiro Matsuura

Koïchiro Matsuura is the current Director-General of UNESCO.

Date of birth: 29 September 1937 Place of birth: Tokyo, Japan

Professional:

1999- Present UNESCO Director-General (elected to a 6-year term on 15 November 1999)

1998-1999 Chairperson, World Heritage Committee of UNESCO

1994-1999 Ambassador of Japan to France and concurrently to Andorra and Djibouti

1992-1994 Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs (Sherpa for Japan at the G-7 Summit)

1990-1992 Director-General, North American Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

1988-1990 Director-General, Economic Cooperation Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

1985-1988 Consul General of Japan in Hong Kong

1982-1985 Successively Director of the General Affairs Division and Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Minister’s Office

1980-1982 Director of the Aid Policy Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

1977-1980 Counsellor of the Embassy of Japan, United States of America

1975-1977 Director of the Development Cooperation Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

1974-1975 Director of the First North American Division (Political Affairs), Ministry of Foreign Affairs

1972-1974 Assumed various posts at the central administration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

1968-1972 Second Secretary, then First Secretary of the Japanese Delegation to the OECD, Paris

1963-1968 Assumed various posts at the central administration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

1961-1963 Third Secretary of the Embassy of Japan, Ghana; also accredited to other countries in West Africa

Academic:

1959-1961 Faculty of Economics, Haverford College, USA

1956-1959 Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo

Publications:

2004 Responding to the Challenges of the 21st Century (in English & French)

2003 Building the New UNESCO (in English & French)

2002 A year of Transition (in English & French)

1998 Japanese Diplomacy at the Dawn of the 21st Century (in French)

1995 Development & Perspectives of the Relations between Japan and France (in French)

1994 The G-7 Summit: Its History and Perspectives (in Japanese)

1992 History of Japan-United States Relations (in Japanese)

1990 In the Forefront of Economic Cooperation Diplomacy (in Japanese)