Spotlight

New UNHCR Representative in the Kyrgyz Republic assumed her duties

On 25 February 2015, Ms. Maki Shinohara, Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Kyrgyzstan handed over her Letter of Presentation to Mr. Askar Beshimov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic.  

Ms. Maki Shinohara, a Japanese national with a Masters of Political Science from University of Oregon, has been working for the UN Refugee Agency since 1992 in a number of countries including the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Afghanistan with missions to Iraq, Pakistan, Darfur, South Sudan, Kosovo, and former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, as well as at UNHCR headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Between 2004 and 2007 Ms. Maki Shinohara worked as Special Assistant to the President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Ms. Shinohara has extensive experience in managing media relations and emergency response.  

During the meeting Ms. Shinohara handed an appointment letter from Antonio Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees, as the Representative of UNHCR for the Kyrgyz Republic.

Deputy Minister Askar Beshimov congratulated Ms. Maki Shinohara with her appointment and expressed hope for further fruitful cooperation between the Kyrgyz Republic and UNHCR in spheres of refugee protection, reduction and prevention of statelessness, and resolution of mixed-migration issues.