Araya Desta

Araya Desta born in 1945 in (Senafe, Eritrea) Mr. Desta has 13 years of experience in foreign affairs and 11 years in relief work. He is currently the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Eritrea to the United Nations in New York . He was his country’s ambassador to the Nordic countries with residence in Stockholm, Sweden, from 2002 to 2005. Prior to that, from 1994 to 2001, he was Minister Counsellor of Eritrea’s embassy in Beijing, China. From 1993 to 1994, he served as First Secretary and Consul at the Consulate of Eritrea in Ottawa, Canada.

Between 1982 and 1991, Mr. Desta served on the Board of the Eritrean Relief Association in Khartoum, Sudan. From 1982 to 1993, he was Executive Director and Chair of the Eritrean Relief Association-Canada Board of Directors in Ottawa.

Mr. Desta worked as a Computer Programmer for the Amoco Canada Petroleum Company in Calgary, from 1980 to 1982. From 1972 to 1976, he was Head of the Meteorological Application Section in the Ethiopian Meteorological Services in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and from 1963 to 1972, he served as Weather Forecaster for the Civil Aviation Administration in Asmara, Eritrea.

Mr. Desta received a Diploma in Weather Forecasting from the Stanmore Meteorological Training Centre in London in 1969. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, in 1980, and a master’s degree in atmospheric physics at the University of Toronto, Canada, in 1985.