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Ban appoints coordinator for multilingualism for UN

Ban appoints coordinator for multilingualism for UN

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Under-Secretary-General Kiyotaka Akasaka as the United Nations Coordinator for Multilingualism.

The appointment follows a General Assembly resolution adopted in December 1999 which requested that the Secretary-General appoint a senior Secretariat official as coordinator of questions relating to multilingualism throughout the UN Secretariat.

A national of Japan, Mr. Akasaka joined the United Nations last year when he was appointed as Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. His new functions are in addition to his current responsibilities as head of the Department of Public Information (DPI).