Finnish Mari Simonen appointed UNFPA´s Deputy Executive Director
Press release 52/2006
8 March, 2006
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has appointed Finnish Mari Simonen Deputy Executive Director at the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA. She will be responsible for external relations and UN affairs and management.
Simonen joined UNFPA twenty-five years ago. She is a sociologist and has taken an interdisciplinary doctor´s degree in philosophy at the University of California in Berkeley.
UNFPA is an operational development agency. Its tasks include support for member states in issues related to population policy and reproductive health. It focuses on the poorest of developing nations. Finland is among the biggest donors of the agency.
Further information: Counsellor Inger Wirén, Unit for Economic and Social Development, Department for Global Affairs, tel. +358 9 1605 6469