Surprised Rattray looking forward to new UN post
Published:Tuesday | December 21, 2021 | 12:09 AMLester Hinds/Gleaner Writer
Ambassador Courtenay Rattray says that although he was surprised when asked to serve as the new chief of staff – chef de cabinet – to United Nations (UN) Secretary General António Guterres, he is anxious to take up the new challenge.
Rattray, who served as Jamaica’s permanent representative to the UN between 2013 and May this year, is expected to assume his new position in early February, succeeding Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti of Brazil, who is vacating the post.
“I was asked to serve and I answered the call. It was a surprise to me, not something that I anticipated,” Rattray told The Gleaner.
He sees his new appointment as a signal honour not only for himself, but also for Jamaica’s foreign service.
“It is early days yet. I was just asked [last] week to take the position, so there is much I still have to know. I will know more when I have my first briefing,” he said, noting that he will have his initial briefing today, at which he will get an idea as to the length of his tenure and the structure with which he will be working.
Rattray sees his new role as a position of trust and one to support the objectives of the secretary general as he will be managing the day-to-day affairs of the UN.
He listed areas such as peacekeeping and crisis management with and eye on trouble spots around the world as areas he will have to focus on as he works to streamline the UN operations to make it more efficient.
The secretary general’s spokespersons will also report to the Jamaican, who will also be responsible for outreach to ambassadors to coordinate with the secretary general’s initiatives.
“It is a wide range of areas that I will be responsible for,” he told The Gleaner, noting that the new role will require a blend of skills.
Rattray is currently undersecretary general and high representative for least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing states, a post that he assumed in July this year, and is now focusing on an international conference set for next month to deal with issues affecting these countries. He said that he was asked to see the conference through before taking up his new post at the UN Headquarters in New York.
Some 5, 000 representatives from around the world are slated to attend the January conference, where in-person attendance was being anticipated but could be threatened by surges in COVID-19 infections around the globe.