Secretary-General appointed Geir O. Pedersen of Norway as Special Envoy for Syria, 31 October 2018.
Read more: Announcement from the United Nations.
Mr. Pedersen brings to this position decades of political and diplomatic experience, having served both in government and United Nations capacities. He will provide good offices aimed at forging a peaceful solution to the Syrian conflict, including a sustainable end to its devestating violence and human rights violations.
Most recently Pedersen has been Norway's Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China since 2017. He was Permanent Representative of Norway to the United Nations in New York from September 2012 until July 2017. Mr. Pedersen was previously Director General in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department for the United Nations, Peace and Humanitarian Affairs.
Mr. Pedersen has served the United Nations in various roles, including as Special Coordinator for Lebanon (2007 to 2008) and as Personal Representative of the Secretary-General for Southern Lebanon (2005 to 2007). He also worked as Director of the Asia and Pacific Division in the UN's Department of Political Affairs.
Between November 1998 and March 2003, Mr. Pedersen served as the Norwegian Representative to the Palestinian Authority. From 1995 to 1998 he held different positions at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo, among them as Chief of Staff for the Norwegian Foreign Minister. Mr. Pedersen has also previously served as a Norwegian diplomat in China and Germany.
In 1993 he was a member of the Norwegian team to the secret Oslo negotiations that led to the signing of the Declaration of Principles and the mutual recognition between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel.
Mr. Pedersen was born in Oslo in 1955 and is married with five children.