Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs on mission to Brazil

(Rio de Janeiro; Brasília: 16 March 2007): United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Margareta Wahlström will be in Brazil on an official visit from 18 to 21 March 2007.

During her stay, she will visit São Paulo and Brasília. In São Paulo, she will deliver the opening remarks in the "Seminar on Humanitarian and Psychological Assistance in Situations of Risk," which will take place on Monday 19 March at the Latin America Memorial.

In Brasília from 20 to 21 March, Ms. Wahlström is scheduled to meet with a number of representatives of the Brazilian Government, including the National Secretary of Civil Defense, Mr. Jorge do Carmos Pimentel; Deputy Minister of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger, Ms. Márcia Lopes; Secretary-General of the Ministry of External Relations, Ambassador Samuel Pinheiro Guimaraes; Director General of the Agency for Brazilian Cooperation, Mr. Luiz Henrique Pereira da Fonseca; and with advisors of the Presidency of the Republic, among others. While in the Brazilian capital city, Ms. Wahlström will also meet with the representatives of the United Nations system in the country.

Margareta Wahlström of Sweden assumed her post as Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator in September 2004. Following the 26 December 2004 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean, Ms. Wahlström was also appointed Special Coordinator for Humanitarian Assistance to Tsunami-Affected Communities. Prior to her current post, Ms. Wahlström served as the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for reconstruction and institutional development in Afghanistan from November 2003 to June 2004, and as the Chief of Staff to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) from December 2002 to September 2004. Prior to joining the United Nations, Ms. Wahlström spent eleven years with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

CONTACTS:

Stephanie Bunker, OCHA-New York: +1 917 367 5126; +1 917 892 1679
Kristen Knutson, OCHA-New York: +1 917 367 9262
João Paulo Gomes, UNDP-Brazil: +5561 3038 9110
Valéria Schilling, UNIC-Brazil: +5521 2253 2211