Geir Otto Pedersen

Geir Otto Pedersen
Geir Otto Pedersen
	Pedersen in 2017
United Nations Special Envoy for Syria
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 31 October 2018
Appointed by	António Guterres
Preceded by	Staffan de Mistura
Personal details
Born	September 28, 1955 (age 66); Oslo, Norway
Nationality	Norwegian
Children	5

Geir Otto Pedersen (born 28 September 1955) is a Norwegian diplomat, who is currently the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria.

Career[]

Born in Oslo,^[1] Pedersen is a cand.philol. by education and started working for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1985.

In 1993, Pedersen was a member of the Norwegian team to the Oslo negotiations, which led to the signing of the Declaration of Principles and mutual recognition between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel. In the following years, from 1995 to 1998, Pedersen held several positions at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1998, he was posted abroad, serving as the Norwegian Representative to the Palestinian Authority.^[1]

Pedersen later worked for the United Nations in several roles, which included as the Personal Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Southern Lebanon from 2005 to 2007, and following as the Special Coordinator for Lebanon from 2007 to 2008. He also served the United Nations as Director of the Asia and Pacific Division in the Department of Political Affairs.

He returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as deputy under-secretary of state, then served as Norway's ambassador to the United Nations from 2012 to 2017 and to China from 2017 to 2018.

In January 2019, he started a tenure as the United Nations Special Envoy to Syria.^[2]

Personal life[]

Pedersen is married and has five children.^[1]

References[]

^ ^a ^b ^c "Geir O. Pedersen". un.org.
^ "Geir Otto Pedersen". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Retrieved 9 March 2019.

Positions in intergovernmental organisations
Preceded by Staffan de Mistura	United Nations and Arab League Envoy to Syria 2019–present	Incumbent
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Morten Wetland	Norwegian Permanent Representative to the United Nations 2012–2017	Succeeded by Tore Hattrem
Preceded by Svein Ole Sæther	Norwegian ambassador to China 2017–2018	Succeeded by (as chargé d'Affaires)

This Norwegian diplomat-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

[bio-1] "Geir O. Pedersen". un.org.

[snl-2] "Geir Otto Pedersen". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Retrieved 9 March 2019.

[1]

[2]