The Director of the United Nations Regional Information Centre in Brussels, Ms. Afsane Bassir-Pour Lavollay, has graciously accepted the invitation of the EuroMUN Secretariat to deliver a key address during the Opening Ceremony of EuroMUN 2012. Ms. Bassir-Pour joins the Honorable Frank Majoor in addressing the delegates at this year's conference as part of the Opening Ceremony program. For over 6 years Ms. Bassir-Pour has held the position of Director at UNRIC, having been appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in October 2005. The EuroMUN Secretariat is honored by the acceptance of Ms. Bassir-Pour and anticipates an informative and rousing speech.
Ms. Bassir-Pour, a national of France, has been the bureau chief and international correspondent for Le Monde in Switzerland since 2002. Prior to this assignment, she was its bureau chief and diplomatic correspondent at UN Headquarters in New York for 13 years, responsible for establishing the newspaper's first full-time staff bureau there. Ms. Bassir-Pour helped create, and has been a commentator for CNN's programme on the United Nations, Diplomatic License. She also served as Vice President of the UN Correspondents Association.
Ms. Bassir-Pour was a moderator at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos and has participated in various forums on multilateralism and the role of the United Nations. She has also been an instructor for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on communication and information skills. Ms. Bassir-Pour has previously reported for the Voice of America, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and Radio France Internationale.
Ms. Bassir-Pour holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Tehran.
Text Source: UN website
Image Source: El Pais