the new petro power paradigm - Diplomat Magazine

DIGNITARIES|NEW ARRIVALS
New heads of mission
Armen Yeganian
Ambassador of Armenia
Mr. Yeganian was born
in Georgia and began
his university studies
at Leningrad State University
where he studied
history, a subject he
continued to pursue for
three years at Yerevan
State University in Armenia.
From 1987 to 1989, he served in the
USSR Armed Forces in Leningrad and six
years later, he joined the foreign service
as an attaché in the consular department.
In 1996, he served as third secretary at
Armenia’s mission in Russia and later at
the embassy in the U.S. Shortly thereafter,
he was promoted to first secretary and
head of the visa division in the consular
department and then made a return post
to Washington for three years. He then
worked at headquarters for four years as
director of the Americas before becoming
ambassador to Canada.
Mr. Yeganian speaks Armenian, English
and Russian and is married with three
sons.
Andrés Teran Parral
Ambassador of Ecuador
Mr. Teran Parral is a
career diplomat who
joined the foreign ministry
30 years ago. He
started his career in the
cultural section and
then became a desk officer,
responsible for the
U.S. and Canada. He later worked for
Ecuador’s undersecretary of bilateral affairs,
deputy minister of foreign affairs,
vice-president and president.
His foreign assignments have included
Paraguay (1984-1989), Spain (1992-1997),
Belgium, the EU and Luxemburg (2001-
2004), the U.S. (2004) and Uruguay and
Colombia (2009).
In 2006, Mr. Teran Parral became a legal
adviser to the ministry of foreign affairs.
In 2007, he worked as deputy secretary
general of the board of Ecuador’s central
bank. A year later, he became the foreign
minister’s chief of staff.
Mr. Teran Parral has a doctorate in jurisprudence
from the Universidad Internacional
of Ecuador. He is married to Maria
Rosa Eguez, who is a clinical psychologist.
They have three children.
Philippe Zeller
Ambassador of France
Born in 1952, Philippe
Zeller studied at
the Ecole Nationale
d’Administration in
the 1970s and began
his diplomatic career
shortly thereafter. As
director of finance, he
was in charge of administrative and budgetary
matters at the Ministry of Foreign
and European Affairs where he was subsequently
appointed director general of
administration.
Following his appointments as head
of the cooperation mission in Seychelles
(1984-1986), second counsellor in Morocco
(1986-1988), and ambassador-at-large for
environmental issues (2000-2001), Mr.
Zeller served as ambassador to Hungary
(2004-2007) and ambassador to the Indonesia
(2008-2011). During the same period,
he also represented France in Timor-Leste
and at the general secretariat of the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations.
Mr. Zeller was awarded the title of officer
of the French Legion of Honour and
officer of the French National Order of
Merit. He is married to Odile Zeller and
has two children.
Juris Audarins
Ambassador of Latvia
Mr. Audarins studied
to be an engineer at
the Riga Polytechnic
Institute and worked
for seven years, from
1977 to 1984, as a senior
engineering mechanic
at Film Studios Riga.
Several years later, in 1992, he joined the
foreign ministry as a senior desk officer
in the administrative section. He soon became
head of that division and then head
of the embassy division. By 1995, he was
under-secretary of state and was sent to
the Italian embassy as counsellor in 1996.
In 2000, he became consul-general in St.
Petersburg, Russia, for a four-year stint
and then became ambassador-at-large,
first in the office of the state secretary and
later in the information and public relations
department.
Early in his career, Mr. Audarins spent
two years (1984-86) studying to become a
screenwriter at a school for film directors
and writers in Moscow. He speaks Latvian,
English, Russian and Italian and is
married with two children.
Kyaw Tin
Ambassador of Myanmar
Mr. Tin completed a
master’s of science in
maths at Yangon University
and did postgraduate
work in
environmental management.
He joined the
foreign service in 1978
and had his first posting at the embassy
in Australia. Back at headquarters in 1983,
he became deputy assistant director of international
organizations and a year later,
went to the UN mission in New York as
third secretary.
Between stints at headquarters, he
had postings in Thailand and at the UN
mission in Geneva (1994-1997). He then
returned to the international organizations
and economic sections of the foreign ministry.
He had subsequent postings to New
York (2003-2005), Ottawa (2005, as chargé
d’affaires), and then returned to headquarters
before coming back to Canada. His
most recent position prior to this one was
as director-general in the political department.
Mr. Tin is married with two children.
Furio de Angelis
Representative of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees
Mr. de Angelis was
born in Rome and attended
the Sapienza
University of Rome and
the Institute of European
Studies, also in
Italy.
The ambassador began
his diplomatic career in 1987, as an assistant
legal officer at the UNHCR offices
in Belgrade and then moved on to become
protection officer in Afghanistan and
then a field officer in Croatia. In 1994, he
spent three years as a protection officer in
Pakistan and then, in 1997, became assistant
representative at the office in Turkey.
Between 2001 and 2011, he had postings
to Nauru (Micronesia), Geneva (first as
senior resettlement officer and later as
senior legal officer), Sudan (as senior field
officer), Kenya (as senior field officer),
and finally Ukraine, where he served as
deputy regional representative prior to
coming to Canada.
80 FALL 2011 | OCT-NOV-DEC