Indian gallantry awardee Siddharth Chatterjee appointed as UN's top diplomat in China

Senior UN official from India Siddharth Chatterjee has formally taken charge as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in China, a post that oversees 27 agencies, funds, and programmes of the organisation in the most populous country. With this, he will be UN Chief Antonio Guterres's senior-most Representative in China.

Chatterjee, who earlier served in the Indian Army, was accorded the gallantry award by the President of India in 1995. He holds a master's degree in public policy from Princeton University in the United States, and a bachelor's degree from the National Defence Academy in India.

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Commenting on his new appointment, Chatterjee said he looks forward to working with the Chinese government to preserve the country's progress and share China's vast experience to solve global development challenges.

"Over the past four decades, the world has witnessed the profound economic and social transformations that have taken place in China, lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty. As the UN Resident Coordinator to China, I look forward to leading the UN Country Team to work with the government to preserve this hard-won progress China has made as well as share China's vast experience to solve global development challenges and accelerate the drive to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," he told PTI. 

Chatterjee has served the United Nations for over over 24 years in a wide range of positions and organisations. In December last year, UN Secretary-General Guterres appointed him as the Resident Coordinator in China with the approval of the CPC government. 

Resident Coordinators are representatives of the UN chief for development at the country level. They lead UN teams that are supporting countries to recover better from the COVID-19 pandemic through the SDGs.

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Siddharth Chatterjee as the UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya

Before coming to China, Chatterjee was the UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya. Lauding Chatterjee works, Kenya's Minister for Sports Culture and Heritage Amina Mohammed said, his exemplary leadership leaves a lasting footprint in the execution of Government/UN collaboration impacting millions of lives in the country and the region.

Chatterjee's appointment to China at a time of border tensions with India as well as the commencement of India's two-year term as a non-permanent member in the UN Security Council indicates Beijing's intent to dial down friction with New Delhi and strengthen multilateral cooperation.

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