Mr. Moustapha Niasse served twice as Prime Minister of Senegal, first in the mid-1980s, and later from 2000 to 2001. He also held the office of Foreign Minister for over a decade, until the late 1990s. In 2002, he acted as the special envoy of United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, to the Democratic Republic of Congo in an effort to form a national unity government in the country. He has a degree in international law.
Mr. Niasse is a member of the Institute of Vienna and represents many African and international organizations. He has represented numerous international organizations on behalf of Senegal, including the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the Organization for the Islamic Conference (OIC), and the Movement of Non-Aligned Nations at the United Nations. He was elected President of two Extraordinary Sessions of the UN General Assembly in November 1996. Mr. Niasse also ran a private consultancy company for nearly a decade, from which he gained extensive experience in the fields of petroleum, finance, insurance, air transportation, shipping and related services.