H.E. Mr. Lazarous Kapambwe
Sixty-seventh President of the Economic and Social Council
His Excellency Lazarous Kapambwe was elected sixty-seventh President of the Economic and Social Council on 18 January 2011. Ambassador Kapambwe is currently the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Zambia to the United Nations in New York since 18 June 2007.
Mr. Kapambwe served as co-facilitator of the Ad-Hoc Open Ended Working Group of the General assembly on the Implementation of the Outcome of the Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis in 2009-2010.
Prior to the United Nations, he served as Zambia’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and the African Union, from June 2003 to June 2007. He was concurrently accredited as Ambassador of Zambia to Sudan, Yemen, Djibouti and Somalia. Before holding that post, he was Permanent Secretary of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs from 2002 to 2003, after serving as Deputy Permanent Secretary responsible for Asia, Africa and the Middle East from 2000 to 2002. He was the Director for Africa and Organization of African Unity Affairs from 1996 to 2000, after two months as Director for European Affairs from June to August 1996.
Mr. Kapambwe also held posts in Europe and the United States, as Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Zambian Embassies in Bonn, Germany, from 1993 to 1996, and in Washington, D.C., from 1988 to 1993. He was Counsellor for Political Affairs at the Permanent Mission of Zambia to the United Nations from 1987 to 1988. Prior to bilateral and multilateral postings, Mr. Kapambwe held several posts in his Government.
During his career, Mr. Kapambwe represented Zambia in major multilateral and regional meetings of the United Nations, Organization of African Unity, African Union, Southern African Development Community (SADC), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Great Lakes region and the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD).
Born on 31 December 1959, Mr. Kapambwe, who is married, obtained a bachelor’s degree in political economy from the University of Zambia, where he studied from 1977 to 1981. He has a post-graduate diploma in international relations from Nairobi University, Kenya, which he attended from 1985 to 1986, and received a certificate in contemporary American politics from New York University in May 1988.