NEW PERMANENT OBSERVER OF SOVEREIGN MILITARY ORDER OF MALTA PRESENTS LETTER OF NOMINATION

Marie-Thérèse Pictet-Althann, the new Permanent Observer of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta to the United Nations Office at Geneva who has the rank of Ambassador, today presented her letter of nomination to Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Prior to her appointment, Ms. Pictet-Althann had been Minister Counsellor and Deputy Permanent Observer of the Order to the United Nations Office at Geneva from 2000 to 2005. From 1995 to 2000, she held the post of First Counsellor in the same location.

From 1974 to 1983, Ms. Pictet-Althann worked at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, in the Division of Administration and Management, the Bureau of the Americas, and the Division of International Protection. During this time, she undertook, in 1979, a mission to Zaire, and in 1982, a mission to Central America. From 1970 to 1973, Ms. Pictet-Althann worked at the United Nations Office at Geneva, in the Division of Administration.

Ms. Pictet-Althann, from 1999 to date, is the Founding President of the Geneva Diplomatic Spouses’ Circle, a project of the “Fondation pour Genève”, and, since 2005, has been Member of the Board of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Foundation in Brussels.

Ms. Pictet-Althann is a Dame of Honour and Devotion, Cross “pro Merito Melitensi” with crown of the Order of Malta. She graduated in 1969 from the European Academy for Secretarial Management and Languages, Vienna.

Ms. Pictet-Althann was born on 24 April 1949 in Vienna, Austria, and is married. She holds Austrian and Swiss nationality.

For use of the information media; not an official record

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