Ambassador Sofia Borges

Deputy Chef de Cabinet

Ambassador Sofia Borges is the Deputy Chef de Cabinet to the President of the 72^nd Session of the UN General Assembly.

Sofia also served in the Cabinet of the President of the 71^st Session of the UN General Assembly as his Special Adviser on Strategic Engagement and Transparency. She led the work on strategic engagement with Member States and non-state actors, and oversaw activities within the Office to ensure the maximum level of transparency

Prior to joining the Office of the President of the UN General Assembly, Sofia worked as Special Adviser on the 2030 Agenda to the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA).

Previously she was Permanent Representative of Timor-Leste to the UN from 2010-2016 during which time she served as Chair of the Third Committee for the 69th session of the UN General Assembly and as a Vice President of the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly. She was Lead Negotiator for her country during the Open Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals and Lead Negotiator for Timor-Leste Post-2015 Inter-Governmental Negotiations on the SDGs.

Prior to her appointment in March 2010 as the Timor-Leste’s third Permanent Representative, Sofia was the Acting Chargé d’Affaires and served as Vice-Chair of the 2007 Caribbean Regional Seminar, held in Grenada under the auspices of the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization.

Before joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sofia worked as an official election officer with the Australian Electoral Commission for Timor-Leste’s Popular Consultation of 30 August 1999.

Sofia holds degrees in anthropology, political science and law from the Australian National University, Canberra, and Northern University, Darwin.

She speaks Tetum, English, and Portuguese.