Enele Sopoaga
Enele Sosene Sopoaga (born February 10, 1956 on Nukufetau , Tuvalu ) is a Tuvaluan diplomat and politician . From 2005 to 2006 he was acting chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). From 2013 to 2019 he was Prime Minister of his country.
Ministerial Officer and Studies
Sopoaga began a career in the Ministry of Tuvalu . From 1980 to 1986 he worked as an education officer in the Ministry of Social Services. He then briefly served as Undersecretary in the Ministry of Social Services. From 1986 to 1988 he was Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Economic Planning. In 1988 Sopoaga became Undersecretary of State for Relations with the European Union in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In 1991 he was initially acting permanent secretary and from 1992 to 1995 permanent secretary for relations with the EU in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Economic Planning. Subsequently, he was Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Sports and Human Resource Development until 1996.
In the meantime, after studying politics and economics, he obtained a diploma in diplomatic studies at the University of Oxford in 1990 and a master's in international relations from the University of Sussex in 1994 .
Diplomat and UN ambassador
In 1996 he was appointed High Commissioner in Fiji and also in Papua New Guinea and Samoa .
Sopoaga became the first ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations on September 5, 2000 after Tuvalu joined the UN as the 187th member . He held this office until October 2006.
During his diplomatic activities he was a representative of Tuvalu at international conferences on several occasions.
Acting Chairman of AOSIS
In January 2002 he was appointed Deputy Chairman of AOSIS and was re-elected in this office on March 10, 2006. Before that, he had been the AOSIS representative at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) since 2001 .
In December 2005 he succeeded Jagdish Koonjul as acting chairman of AOSIS. He handed this office over to Julian Robert Hunte in March 2006 .
Government functions
In September 2010 he became Foreign Minister in Prime Minister Maatia Toafa's government . After Toafa was overthrown on December 21, 2010 by a vote of no confidence in parliament , Sopoaga ran for the successor, but was defeated on December 24, 2010 in a vote in parliament against Willy Telavi and also lost his post as foreign minister.
After Governor General Iakoba Italeli Telavi had fired on August 1, 2013, he appointed Sopoaga as interim Prime Minister. He was elected Prime Minister by Parliament on August 4, 2013 and sworn in the following day.
Following the parliamentary elections in Tuvalu in 2019 , Kausea Natano was elected as the new Tuvaluan Prime Minister on September 19, 2019 .
Web links
- Homepage of the government of Tuvalu
- Biography on the homepage of the New Century Institute
- Homepage of AOSIS
- Interview with Democracy Now! about the threat to Tuvalu from rising sea levels from global warming
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sopoaga, Enele |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sopoaga, Enele Sosene (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Tuvaluan chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 10, 1956 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nukufetau , Tuvalu |