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Abdul Rahman Pazhwak (Afghanistan)

Elected President of the twenty-first session of the General Assembly

Photo of Mr. Abdul Rahman Pazhwak

Abdul Rahman Pazhwak of Afghanistan who was today elected President of the twenty-first session of the United Nations General Assembly has been his country Permanent Representative to the United Nations since 16 April 1958 and has been a member of his country's delegation to the Assembly sessions since 1948.

Mr . Pazhwak vas born in Ghazni, Afghanistan, on 7 march 1919. He received his education in Afghanistan.

Mr. Pazhwak began his professional career in the field of journalism. He vas, director of foreign publications of his Government's Press department in Kabul. Later, he served as editor of a daily newspaper, Islah, in Kabul, and then as Director-General of the Bakhtar News Agency. Subsequently, he returned to the Government Press Department to serve as Director-General of information and Press.

in 1946, he was named Cultural and Press Attaché of the Royal Afghan Embassy in London. The following year, He joined the Information section of the International Labour Organisation, where he remained for two years. In 1949, he returned to his country's diplomatic service and became Cultural and Press Attaché of the Royal Afghan Embassy in Washington. He remained there until 1951 when he returned to Kabul to take over the position or Director of the Asian and African Affairs Section and to serve as acting Director of the United Nations Section of Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the political Department.

In 1957, he vas appointed Director-General of the Political Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a post he hold until his appointment as Afghanistan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

He has been Chairman of his country's delegation to each session of the General Assembly since the thirteenth in 1958.

Mr. Pazhwak represented Afghanistan on the Economic and Social Council from 1959 to 1961. He was a member of the Commission on Human Rights from 1961 to 1963, serving as Chairman in the latter year.

In 1963, he served as Chairman of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission to Viet-Nam, sent to examine the relations between the Government of the Republic of Viet-Nam and the Vietnamese Buddhist community. He was Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Oman in 1964.

Mr. Pazhwak has represented Afghanistan at several international conferences, including the Bandung Conference in 1955, the Preparatory Conference of Foreign Ministers held in Cairo in 1961, and the Belgrade Conference of Nan-Aligned Nations in 1961. He headed the Afghan delegation to the conferences of Foreign Ministers in Djakarta,1964, and Algiers, 1965. He was also a member of the delegation of Afghanistan to the Second Conference of Non-Aligned Nations, held in Cairo in 1964.

Mr. Pazhwak was President and is now an honorary member of the Royal Afghan Academy of Literature. He has also been a member of the Society of Historical Studies of Afghanistan.

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