New Permanent Representative of United Kingdom Presents Credentials

(Based on information provided by Protocol and Liaison Services)

The new Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, Karen Pierce, presented her credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

Prior to her appointment, Ms. Pierce was the Director General for Political Affairs of the United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 2017 to 2018.  She also served as its Chief Operating Officer starting in 2016.

From 2015 to 2016, Ms. Pierce was the United Kingdom’s Ambassador to Afghanistan, while from 2012 to 2015 she served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva.  From 2009 to 2012, she was the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Director for South Asia and Afghanistan, concurrently serving as the United Kingdom’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2010 to 2011.

Additionally, she served as her Government’s Deputy Permanent Representative and Ambassador to the United Nations in New York from 2006 to 2009.

Ms. Pierce previously held a number of leadership roles within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which she joined in 1981.

She is married and has two children.