Ambassador Neil Elected To UN Economic And Social Council

Ambassador Stafford Neil, Jamaica’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) has been elected as one of four Vice Presidents of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
In an interview with JIS News after his election on January 21 at the UN headquarters in New York, Ambassador Neil vowed to meet the many challenges that were sure to come with the assumption of the vice presidency.
“I am very honoured to have been elected to this esteemed body. There is a lot of important work to do and as a member of this Council, I will try my very best to advance the economic and social agenda as being central to the mission of the United Nations,” he stated.
Prior to his appointment to the UN in September 2002, Ambassador Neil held various posts in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade (MFAFT). Between 1995 and 1997, he held the position of Director General and has also served as Jamaica’s non-resident Ambassador to Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Cuba, Suriname and Venezuela.
From 1989 to 1994, he assumed duties as High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago, and non-resident High Commissioner to Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Ambassador Neil holds a Certificate in Legal Education from the Norman Manley Law School, a Juris Doctorate from St. John’s University (New York), a Master of Science in Economics from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of the West Indies.
Also elected as ECOSOC’s Vice Presidents for 2004 are Ambassadors Daw Penjo (Bhutan); Jagdish Koonjul (Mauritius); and Yahar Aliyev (Azerbaijan). The new President, Ambassador Marjatta Rasi (Finland) became the first woman to hold that post.