FOREIGN AND
COMMONWEALTH OFFICE News Release issued by The Government News
Network on 3 August 2007
With the agreement
of the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary has today appointed
Michael C. Williams to be the UK Special Representative on Middle
East and Special Projects.
Dr. Williams, who is currently serving as the UN Secretary
General's Special Co-ordinator for the Middle East Peace
Process and his Personal Representative to the Palestinian
Liberation Organisation, will start his new role in September. He
will be based in the FCO, and will report to the Foreign Secretary
and Prime Minister.
His responsibilities will cover the wider Middle East including
Iraq and Iran in addition to the Middle East Peace Process.
In the 1990s he served with the UN in Cambodia, the former
Yugoslavia, Geneva and New York. Between 2000 and 2005, he served
in the FCO as the Special Adviser to two Foreign Secretaries,
Robin Cook and Jack Straw. In July 2005 he was appointed Director
of Asia in the UN's Department of Political Affairs in New
York. In July 2006 he was promoted to Assistant Secretary-General
and appointed Special Adviser on the Middle East to Kofi Annan.
He has played a critical role in the implementation of Security
Council Resolution 1701 which brought the Israel-Lebanon war to a conclusion.
Press Office, Downing Street (West), London SW1A 2AL