Anna Evstigneeva, the new deputy ambassador at the Russian mission to the UN. She is the first woman to have that role there, although she worked at the mission, including as a political coordinator, from 2011 to 2016. She began her diplomatic career in Oslo. JOHN PENNEY
Abdou Abbary, Niger’s envoy to the UN, assumes the Security Council presidency for September 2020. It is the first time the nation has been in the Council for almost 40 years. JOHN PENNEY
Niger hasn’t been a member of the Security Council for almost 40 years, and now that it has a voice on one of the world’s most visible platforms, it intends to use it to build more alliances with influential world powers while furthering a regional agenda.
The Indonesian delegation, June 2018, when it was elected as a member from the Asia-Pacific region to the UN Security Council for 2019-2020. Retno Marsudi, foreign affairs minister, right; and Dian Triansyah Djani, center, the UN ambassador. The key to managing in the Council? Tolerance and patience, he said. MANUEL ELIAS/UN PHOTO
Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, holding a virtual media briefing at the UN, July 1, 2020, with members of the German delegation: Mathias Licharz, political coordinator, and Kathrin Deschauer, press officer. The country has its last Security Council presidency of its term this month, doubly emphasizing global cooperation and the rule of law during the pandemic. PHOTO: GERMAN MISSION TO THE UN
A screen grab of Ambassador Nicolas de Rivière of France participating in a videoconference of the UN Security Council on Syria, April 29, 2020. As president of the Council in June, he intends to speak only in French in public sessions, as multilingualism in the Council, he said, has suffered collateral damage during the pandemic.
The Estonian delegation reacting to their country’s election to the Security Council for a two-year term, a first for the young Baltic country. In New York, above, President Kersti Kaljulaid being hugged by Sven Jurgenson, the ambassador to the United Nations, June 7, 2019. ESKINDER DEBEBE/UN PHOTO
Estonia assumed its first two-year term on the United Nations Security Council in January, and it will hold the presidency in May. It’s a tough time for international diplomacy, in light of the pandemic.
José Singer Weisinger, the special envoy of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations, in the Security Council, Sept. 18, 2019, with members of his delegation. His country assumes the presidency in April, after a tumultuous month in which the Council suddenly switched to privately held meetings online amid the coronavirus pandemic. ARIANA LINDQUIST/UN PHOTO
Zhang Jun, China’s envoy to the United Nations, in the Security Council, Sept. 17, 2019. Zhang has been in the post for less than a year and now leads the Council as president in March, just as the world reels from the coronavirus outbreak. ARIANA LINDQUIST/UN PHOTO
Belgium’s ambassador to the UN, Marc Pecsteen de Buytswerve, being interviewed in his office in Midtown Manhattan by Stéphanie Fillion, a PassBlue reporter, Jan. 30, 2020. The country is rotating president of the Security Council in February, managing a tight schedule that includes a meeting on the recently announced US proposal for the Mideast.
Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy of Vietnam, speaking to media on Jan. 2, 2020, as his country assumes the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council in its first month as an elected member. In the Council, it plans to ally with another current Southeast Asian member, Indonesia.
With tensions becoming more and more serious in the Middle East and with two crucial leadership roles to play internationally, diplomats in Hanoi are probably working hard to make sure Vietnam’s big diplomatic month of January is a success.
