New FAO Representative takes up duties in Kyrgyzstan

Adnan Quereshi has been appointed as FAO Representative in Kyrgyzstan, effective from 1 July. The British national will switch to the Central Asian country from the Organization’s Rome headquarters, where he served as senior programme officer since 2018.

“Kyrgyzstan is a vast country with very varied geography and climate, and FAO’s project portfolio reflects this diversity,” Quereshi said. “I look forward to learning more about our work covering aquaculture, youth engagement, animal health, food security and nutrition, locust, sustainable resource management, and many other areas.”

Quereshi joined FAO in 1995 as a programme and budget officer in Rome, during which time he also served as the Secretary of the FAO Programme Committee. Between 2009–2017, he was exposed to the “field” while assuming the role of senior administrative officer for Asia and Pacific, in the Organization’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok.

In the next year Quereshi held the position of the FAO Representative ad interim in Mongolia, where he improved the management of the office and widened the project portfolio, an experience that will prove valuable in his upcoming endeavor.

“I have been supporting FAO Representatives and country offices over the last 10 years, both from the field and FAO’s headquarters, giving them guidance on all kinds of management issues and on strengthening relationships with the host countries,” said Quereshi. “Therefore I know country office perspectives’ very well, and will use all my knowledge and experience at the service of FAO Kyrgyzstan.”

In addition to all these responsibilities, he has been an active facilitator of FAO’s governance structures and bodies at the country, regional, and global levels alike.

Before joining the UN, Quereshi gained wide professional experience in audit and finances during his almost 10 years of work in private companies and financial institutions.

He holds a Bachelor degree in business and economics (University of North London) and a Master of Business Administration (Durham University Business School). He has been a member of the Chartered Institute of Accounting and the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Quereshi’s mother tongue is English and he also speaks French.