Kofi Annan was born in Kumasi, Ghana on April 8, 1938. He studied at Kumasi University of Technology in Ghana in his early years, and then studied in the United States and Switzerland. He received a bachelor's degree in economics from Macalester College in Minnesota and a master's degree in management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Annan joined the United Nations from 65438 to 0962 and worked in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the United Nations Headquarters, the United Nations Office at Geneva, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Health Organization. 1974 after the "October War" in the Middle East, he served as the civil chief of the United Nations Emergency Force in Cairo. In the early 1980 s, Annan was transferred back to the United Nations Headquarters and served as the head of the personnel and financial departments. From 65438 to 0986, he was promoted to Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, in charge of personnel affairs.

1990 After the Gulf War broke out, Annan was responsible for negotiating with Iraq to release the hostages of the staff of the United Nations and other international organizations. Since then, he led the United Nations team to negotiate "oil for food" with Iraq. Annan1March 1993 served as the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Affairs, in charge of UN peacekeeping operations around the world. He served as the special envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for the former Yugoslavia and the special envoy to NATO to coordinate the relations between the countries concerned.

1996 17 February 17, 5 1 The General Assembly appointed Annan as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations. 1 997 65438+1October1,and he officially took office for five years. In June 20001,the General Assembly nominated Annan for a second term as Secretary-General through the Security Council, with a term of office ending on June 65438+February 3, 20061. During his tenure as Secretary-General, Annan went to Baghdad on 1998 to mediate and solve the crisis of weapons inspection in Iraq. 200 1 1 Annan and the United Nations won the Nobel Peace Prize that year. In March 2005, the independent investigation committee led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Walker issued a report, pointing out that Annan did not commit any corruption during the implementation of the oil-for-food program in Iraq.

Annan is an experienced diplomat who knows English, French and several African languages. He is gentle in speech, straightforward in character, honest with others, calm in mind and full of sense of humor.

Annan in May 1997, March 1998, June 165438+ 10 0999, June 65438+ 10, June 65438. Annan paid an official visit to China in May 2006.

Nane Laggren was born in Stockholm, Sweden. She is a professional painter, and her father, gunnar Lagglin, is a famous international jurist. Lagglin used to be a lawyer and a judge, working in UNHCR. Both Annan and his wife remarried in 198 1 year, and they had three children.

In the past 10 years, Annan left an image of diligence, gentleness, wisdom and rationality, and became a highly regarded diplomatic figure in the international political arena. He led the United Nations to stand the test of major changes in the international situation after the Cold War, especially after the "9. 1 1" incident, and consolidated the core position of the United Nations in the international multilateral mechanism. He also made positive contributions to the promotion of international peace and development and the reform of the United Nations itself.

However, in the complicated and changeable international relations, at the intersection of various complex contradictions in the world, Annan's views on some issues involving important international political principles have also caused controversy. Annan is about to bid farewell to the United Nations, leaving both achievements and regrets.

/kloc-since 0/0, the international situation has undergone profound changes, and the role played by the United Nations has also undergone great changes. Peacekeeping, promoting development, preventing and treating diseases, and safeguarding human rights are all on the agenda of the Secretary-General.

Annan's contribution to international peace is obvious to all. Whether in the African war, the Middle East crisis, the Kashmir dispute in South Asia, the riots in East Timor, the war in Afghanistan or other extremely sensitive political crises, Annan and his team are shuttling around and mediating.

Annan attaches importance to development. His Millennium Report published in 2000 became the basis of the Millennium Declaration adopted by the Millennium Summit of the United Nations, and was further implemented in the outcome document published in September 2005. Today, the Millennium Development Goals include halving the number of poor people in the world by 20 15, curbing the spread of AIDS, and providing 0.7% official development assistance from developed countries. These development goals have condensed the international community's understanding of development issues and also carried the hopes of the people of the world for a better future.

Annan attaches great importance to maintaining the core position of the UN Security Council as the international collective security system and vigorously advocates multilateralism. He bluntly expressed his opposition to the unilateral policy adopted by the United States in the name of anti-terrorism after the "9. 1 1" incident, and always stressed that the United Nations must play a central role in resolving international conflicts and safeguard its dignity and status. Today, the United Nations plays a central role in coordinating the actions of all countries on a series of major international issues, such as international security and the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, and its position in international multilateral mechanisms has been consolidated and strengthened.

Since taking office from 65438 to 0997, Annan has devoted himself to promoting the reform of the United Nations, which can be said to be the most innovative secretary-general among all previous secretaries-general. Shortly after he took office, he launched the reform plan of "renewing the United Nations", streamlining the organization, saving expenses and improving efficiency, which caused great repercussions.

After the oil-for-food scandal was exposed, Annan took a series of measures to strengthen the management of the secretariat, such as adopting internationally accepted accounting standards, setting up an ethics office, setting strict financial disclosure requirements, and establishing a system to protect whistleblowers.

In addition to strengthening the internal management of the Secretariat, Annan also advocated innovating the concept of the United Nations in security and other fields and comprehensively reforming the United Nations. In 2003, he appointed a group of senior celebrities to study the new challenges and problems faced by the United Nations in the new century, and put forward a reform plan for the United Nations on the basis of the report of the panel, advocating the establishment of a new concept of collective security. According to his proposal, some new institutions have been established, such as the Counter-Terrorism Committee, the Peacebuilding Commission and the Human Rights Council, which have strengthened the role of the United Nations in the field of international security and human rights.

Looking at the various reform measures and ideas put forward by Annan during his term of office, some have been successfully implemented, and many have caused controversy. For example, on the issue of the enlargement of the Security Council, he said that countries that have made the greatest contribution to the United Nations in financial, military and diplomatic aspects should be absorbed, which is contrary to the wishes of many countries that demand priority to solve the problem of insufficient representation of developing countries in the Security Council, and naturally it is difficult to get approval.

Many developing countries also believe that Annan agrees with the idea and proposition that "human rights are above sovereignty" and attempts to revise or reinterpret the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations concerning the inviolability of national sovereignty, which actually reflects more the values and interests of western developed countries. Developing countries are worried that once these concepts are brought into the scope of international law, they will become the legal basis for powerful countries to interfere with weak countries and international stability will be affected.

In a recent interview with the media, Annan said that the failure to stop the war in Iraq was the biggest regret during his term of office. In fact, in the past 10 years, there have been more than one failure of Annan's mediation.

As the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Annan has made great efforts in safeguarding the international collective security system and promoting the development and progress of human society in response to the call of the vast number of Member States to strengthen the role of the United Nations, and has made certain achievements, but it has also been restricted by different aspects. The international community needs Qi Xin's concerted efforts to make the new Secretary-General have no regrets like Annan's.