The new Permanent Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the United Nations, Sven Alkalaj, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.
Most recently, Mr. Alkalaj served as Visiting Professor at the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations in Switzerland between 2015 and 2019, as well as Assistant Professor at the University of Travnik in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2016 to 2017.
During his diplomatic career, Mr. Alkalaj served as Under Secretary-General and Executive Secretary at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) from 2012 to 2014. He was Minister for Foreign Affairs in his country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sarajevo between 2007 and 2012, having served previously in Brussels as Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Ambassador to Belgium, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Luxembourg, from 2004 to 2007.
Based in Washington, D.C., between 1994 and 2003, Mr. Alkalaj served as his country’s Ambassador to the Organization of American States from 2000 to 2003, and as Ambassador to the United States from 1994 to 2000.
Mr. Alkalaj holds a post-doctorate law degree from the University of Travnik in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a graduate degree in business administration from Harvard University, United States, and both a master’s degree in international relations and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Sarajevo.
