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Salim A. Salim (United Republic of Tanzania)
Elected President of the thirty-fourth session of the General Assembly
Salim A. Salim, who was elected President of the sixth emergency session of the General Assembly, was President of the thirty-fourth regular session which ended on 7 January. He has been the Permanent Representative of the United Republic of Tanzania to the United Nations since 1970, and Chairman of the Special Committee of 24 on decolonization since 1972.
Mr. Salim is also the first Tanzanian Ambassador to Cuba (since July 1970), as well as High Commissioner to Guyana (from December 1970), Barbados (March 1971), Jamaica (April 1971) and Trinidad and Tobago (July 1971).
Prior to his assignment at the United Nations, Mr. Salim served in 1969 as Ambassador to the People's Republic of China and to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Earlier, he served as Director of the African and Middle East Affairs Division of the Tanzanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1968 and 1969, High Commissioner to India from 1965 to 1568, and Ambassador of Zanzibar to Egypt in 1964 and 1965.
Mr. Salim served as Conference Director of the Ministerial Meeting of East and Central African States, held in Dar es Salaam in January 1969, and Secretary-General at the Ministerial Conference of Non-Aligned States, held in Dar es Salaam in April of the following year.
While serving at the United Nations, he was Chairman of the United Nations Special Mission to Niue in June/July 1972; Drafting Committee Chairman of the Political Committee of the Ministerial Conference of Non-Aligned States, Georgetown, Guyana (August 1972); Chairman of the Political Committee of the International Conference of Experts in Support of the Victims of Colonialism and Apartheid in southern Africa, Oslo (April 1973); 1975 Chairman of the Security Council's Committee on Sanctions against Southern Rhodesia; President of the Security Council (January 1976); Chairman of the high-level Ad HOC Group of the Special Committee of 24 visiting the United Kingdom, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique and Ethiopia (April/May 1976); Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Fifth Conference of Heads of State or Government of the non-Aligned States, Colombo (August1976), and Vice-President of the International Conference in support of the people of Zimbabwe arid Namibia and Chairman of the Committee of the Whole of that Conference, held in Maputo, Mozambique (May 1977).
Born in Zanzibar on 23 January 1942, Mr. Salim was educated at Lumumba college, Zanzibar; the University of Delhi; and the School of International Affairs at Columbia University, New York, where he received a master's degree in international affairs in January 1975. He served early in his political career as founder and First Vice-President of the All-Zanzibar Students Union (1960) and later (1961-1962) as Deputy Chief Representative of the Zanzibar Office in Havana.
In 1963, he was Chief Editor of a Zanzibar daily paper and was Secretary-General of the All-Zanzibar Journalists Organization.
Among the other international conferences and meetings he has attended prior to becoming his country's Ambassador at the United Nations are the following;
Afro-Asian Journalists Conference, Djakarta (April 1963); Afro-Asian Council Meeting, Albers (March 1964); Organization of African Unity (OAU) Assembly of Heads of State and Government, Cairo (July 1964); Second Summit Conference of Non-Aligned Countries, Cairo (October 1964); second session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), New Delhi (February March 1968); Summit Recting of East and Central African States, nor es Salaam (Lay 1968); OAU Liberation Committee session, Algiers (July 1968); OAU Assembly of Heads of State and Government, Algiers (September 1968); Ministerial meeting of the East and Central African States, Dar es Salaam (January 1970); OAU Council of Ministers, Addis Ababa (February 1969).
Since his appointment as Ambassador at the United Nations he has attended the following: Pacem en Maribus, Valleta, Malta (May 1970); Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Geneva (June 1970); Liberation Committee session, Algiers (July 1970); OAU Assembly of Heads of State or Government, Addis Ababa (September 1970); United Nations Security Council meeting, Addis Ababa (January /February 1972); Preparatory Committee Meetings of Non-Aligned States, Georgetown (February 1972), Kuala Lumpur (Mat 1972) and Kabul (May 1973); OAU Liberation Committee session, Accra (January 1973); United Nations Security Council meeting, Panama City (March 1973); Tenth Ordinary Session of the OAU Assembly of Heads of State or Government, Addis Ababa (May 1973); Fourth Summit Conference of Non-Aligned States, Algiers (September 1973); world Congress of Peace Forces, Moscow (October 1973) ; Co-ordinating Bureau of Non-Aligned Sates, Algiers (March 1974) ; OAU Liberation Committee session, Dar es Salaam (January 1975); Meeting of Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned States, Havana (March 1975); Extraordinary Session of OAU Council of Ministers, Dar es Salaam (April 1175); Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference, Kingston (May 1975); International Seminar on the Eradication of Apartheid and in Support of the Struggle for Liberation in South Africa, Havana (May 1976); Coordinating Bureau of Non-Aligned States, Algiers (May/June 1976); Thirteenth Ordinary Session of the OAU Assembly of Heads of State or Government, Port Louis Mauritius (July 1976); Head of Tanzanian observer delegation to the Geneva Conference on Southern Rhodesia (October/December 1976); First Afro-Arab Summit Conference, Cairo (March 1977); Co-ordinating Bureau of Non-Aligned States, New Delhi (April 1977); Twenty-Ninth Ordinary Session of the OAU Liberation Committee and of the OAU Council of Ministers, Libreville (June 1977); Fourteenth Ordinary Session of the OAU Assembly of Heads of State or Government, Libreville (July 1977); World Conference for Action against Apartheid, Lagos (August 1977); Fifteenth Ordinary Session of the OAU Assembly of Heads of State or Government, Khartoum (July 1978); session of the OAU Liberation Committee, (June 1979); Tenth Ordinary Session of the OAU Assembly of Heads of State or Government, Monrovia (June 1979); and the Sixth Conference of Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned States, Havana (September 1979).
He has attended every regular session of the General Assembly since 1966 except for the twenty-fourth session in 1969.
Mr. Salim is married and has two children.
on a healthy planet