7 October 2015, Tashkent – New Representative for Uzbekistan and Country Director for Tajikistan and Turkmenistan of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has assumed her duties, after having met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Abdulaziz Kamilov to present her credentials on 6 October. A Japanese national, Ms. Yabuta comes with extensive experience at UNFPA and at private sector in Japan.
7 October 2015, Tashkent – New Representative for Uzbekistan and Country Director for Tajikistan and Turkmenistan of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has assumed her duties, after having met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Abdulaziz Kamilov to present her credentials on 6 October. A Japanese national, Ms. Yabuta comes with extensive experience at UNFPA and at private sector in Japan.
She joins UNFPA Uzbekistan from her previous posts as UNFPA Representative in Morocco (2011-2015), and Laos (2006-2011). Prior to that, she has held various positions at UNFPA Headquarters in New York, as well as at Country Offices in Madagascar (1998-2001) and Tanzania (1994-1998) where she served as UNFPA Deputy Representative. She first joined the organization in 1992 as Junior Professional Officer, after having worked at IBM and Sony Corporation in Japan and served as a volunteer of the Japan Oversees Cooperation Volunteers, a programme that is part of Japan’s bilateral cooperation programme, in Morocco (1984-1986).
Ms. Yabuta holds a Master of Science degree in Public Health in Developing Countries from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in UK, and a Master of Public Administration from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, USA. She speaks fluent English and French in addition to her native language, Japanese.
“I very much look forward to working in Uzbekistan within our unified effort of advancing reproductive health and rights and empowering women and young people. I am fascinated by this region and its unique culture and history, as one of the centers of the ancient Silk Road”, - says Mieko Yabuta.
UNFPA is the lead UN agency that expands the possibilities for women and young people to lead healthy sexual and reproductive lives, with the mission of delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. UNFPA has been working in Uzbekistan since 1993, and is currently developing its fourth Country Programme (2016-2020).
