ISSUE 44: DECEMBER 2006-FEBRUARY 2007
network of research and training centres/programmes
FRONT PAGE | ARCHIVE |
Jayantha Dhanapala is new chair of UNU Council
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Veteran Sri Lankan diplomat Jayantha Dhanapala has been appointed chair of the United Nations University (UNU) Council.
Ambassador Dhanapala (right), who currently serves as senior adviser to the President of Sri Lanka, has had a distinguished four-decade career as a diplomat, peace-builder and disarmament expert. In his role as UNU Council chair, he succeeds Peter Katjavivi, the Republic of Namibia’s Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany.
“I am deeply honoured to be elected to lead the UNU Council at this time of momentous change for UNU, the entire UN system and the world,” said Ambassador Dhanapala.
“I am confident that, on the basis of its past achievements, UNU will consolidate and further develop its unique role as a UN ‘think-tank’, generating and transferring ideas and knowledge through a network of scholars and institutions serving the purposes and principles of the UN. There are vast untapped intellectual resources in the world, especially in developing countries, and UNU has the capacity to mobilize them,” he said.
Dhanapala was appointed to the council in May 2004 for a six-year term. With UNU Rector Hans van Ginkel planning to retire in 2007, Ambassador Dhanapala’s selection as UNU Council chair comes at a transitional period for the University, and he will play a key role in overseeing the changeover.
© 2006 United Nations University