Biography of the Director-General of UNESCO
      KoОchiro Matsuura of Japanese nationality was elected the eighth Director-General of UNESCO on 15 November 1999, and the first of Asian origin. Born in 1937, his studies in economy and law, which he started at the University of Tokyo and continued in the United States of America, permitted him to start a diplomatic career at a very early age.
      He entered the Japanese Ministry of foreign affairs when he was twenty-two as the third Secretary of the Embassy of Japan in Ghana and West Africa. After a brief stint holding various positions at the central administration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan, Mr Matsuura then gained significant Intergovernmental Organization experience as Second and then First Secretary of the Japanese Delegation to the OECD. Stops as Counsellor of the Embassy of Japan in the United States of America andConsul General of Japan in Hong Kong proved essential to being named Director-General of the Economic Cooperation Bureau within the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. While Director-General of the North American Affairs Bureau Mr Matsuura began his formal writing career and has had numerous titles published. An accomplished author in the fields of economic cooperation, bi-lateral relations, and perspectives on development Mr Matsuura then represented Japan at the 1994 G-7 summit as Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. From 1994-1999, Mr Matsuura was called upon to serve as Ambassador of Japan to France and concurrently to Andorra and Djibouti during which he published Japanese Diplomacy at the Dawn of the 21st Century. His first contact with UNESCO was as Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO where he showed a natural aptitude for dealing with cultural heritage issues.