Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Mr. Takahisa Kawakami, Former Minister-Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations, Appointed as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Timor-Leste and Deputy Head of UNMIT

September 3, 2008

The Government of Japan welcomes the announcement that on Tuesday, September 2 (US Eastern time), Mr. Takahisa Kawakami, former Minister-Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations (at present the Chief of Staff in the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan), has been appointed as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General (DSRSG) for Timor-Leste by Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations.
The role of the DSRSG to which Mr. Kawakami has been appointed includes providing policy guidance for rebuilding of the national police, and assisting the reform of the security sector and strengthening of the justice sector. It is an extremely important post as one of the greatest challenges Timor-Leste faces in peacebuilding is improving the security situation.
The Government of Japan, as it has been contributing to nation-building in Timor-Leste since its pre-independence days, expects Mr. Kawakami to contribute greatly to peacebuilding in Timor-Leste.
There is no Japanese staff who holds a post of DSRSG or above among the 16 current UN peacekeeping operations.

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