SECRETARY GENERAL
OF OPANAL

PERLA CARVALHO
Deputy Secretary GeneralOPANAL (2008 - )
email: perlacarvalho@opanal.org

A career diplomat, she joined the Mexican Foreign Service in 1973. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs she held the positions of Head of the Department of the Americas (1973-1978), Deputy Director of Specialized Organizations of the United Nations (1980-1981) and Director-General for the United Nations System (1996-1998). While abroad, she was commissioned at the Mexican Embassies in Yugoslavia, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Portugal.

She served as Alternate Representative at the Conference on Disarmament (1989-1996), a period in which she participated in the negotiations for the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. She was a member of the Expert Group of Verification of the United Nations and took part in various international meetings in disarmament matters, in particular the Review Conferences regarding the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

She was appointed Alternate Ambassador to the International Organizations in Geneva (1999-2001) and Member Ad Personam of the United Nations Secretary-General's Advisory Board for Disarmament Matters (2003-2006).

She then served as Diplomatic Adviser of the Presidency of the Mexican Republic (2002-2003) and was, until July of the current year, Mexican Ambassador to Uruguay and Permanent Representative to the Latin American Integration Association (2004-2007).

During the XX Regular Session, the General Conference of OPANAL by Resolution CG/Res.496 (XX) decide to designate H.E. Madame Perla Carvalho as Deputy Secretary General from January 1, 2008, to June 30, 2009, with the possibility of extending the mandate until the XXI Regular General Conference is held in November 2009.

Last updated: 1 January 2009