1. Sven Alkalaj previously served as the Permanent Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the United Nations from 2019 to 2023.
16 Facts About Sven Alkalaj
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Sven Alkalaj served as the country's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2007 until 2012.
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Sven Alkalaj held the post of executive secretary of UNECE between 2012 and 2014 as well.
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Sven Alkalaj served as the first Bosnia and Herzegovina ambassador to the United States from 1994 to 2000.
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Sven Alkalaj is one of the most prominent Bosnian Jews of Sephardic origin and has been a longtime member of the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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Sven Alkalaj was born to a Sephardic Jewish father and a Bosnian Croat Catholic mother.
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The Sven Alkalaj are a prominent Bosnian Jewish family, who settled in Sarajevo over 500 years ago when they fled the Spanish Inquisition.
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Sven Alkalaj graduated in mechanical engineering from the University of Sarajevo in 1974.
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Sven Alkalaj returned to the university and in 1987 earned a degree in international relations and economics, with a focus on Latin America.
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From 1975 until 1985, Sven Alkalaj worked at Petrolinvest as a commercial manager in Sarajevo.
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In 1999, Sven Alkalaj attended the Executive Development Program and Corporate Finance Program of Harvard University's Graduate School of Business Administration.
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From 2004 until 2007, Sven Alkalaj was posted in Brussels as the Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Belgium and the Head of Mission of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
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From 11 January 2007 until 12 January 2012, Sven Alkalaj served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the first and second cabinets of Nikola Spiric, representing the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina, then led by Haris Silajdzic.
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From 8 March 2012 to 8 April 2014, Sven Alkalaj was the executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva.
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Sven Alkalaj served as a visiting professor at the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations, a for-profit business whose lack of university accreditation has put it under the spotlight of the news media, between 2015 and 2019, as well as an assistant professor at the University of Travnik from 2016 until 2017.
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On 5 July 2019, Sven Alkalaj was appointed by Bosnian Presidency member Zeljko Komsic as a Permanent Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the United Nations in New York City.