Career
O'Brien was a diplomat with the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for over 40 years from 1959 - 2001. He held early postings as a diplomat in the 1960s in Bangkok, London, and Brussels. It was in Brussels that as a first secretary he helped New Zealand to negotiate a special deal with the European Community giving access for New Zealand dairy products to Europe when the United Kingdom joined the Community in 1972. O'Brien then served as High Commissioner to the Cook Islands (1975–77), and then as Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva (1980–83), to the European Community in Brussels (1983–86) and finally to the United Nations in New York (1990–93). He was President of the United Nations Security Council during the war in Yugoslavia. While in New York, his leadership was a critical factor in New Zealand's securing a seat on the United Nations Security Council, despite competition from more favoured countries such as Spain and Sweden. Nicknamed by the New Zealand press on several occasions "Chardonnay O'Brien" for his love of a good glass of wine and a good cocktail party, O'Brien is known for his global view and his passionate articulation of the role of New Zealand as an independent and free thinking country with its own values and way of doing things. O'Brien has always believed that small countries like New Zealand need to use and support international institutions such as the United Nations to promote common and universal values and have influence in international affairs.
Read more about this topic: Terence O'Brien (New Zealand Diplomat)
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“I seemed intent on making it as difficult for myself as possible to pursue my “male” career goal. I not only procrastinated endlessly, submitting my medical school application at the very last minute, but continued to crave a conventional female role even as I moved ahead with my “male” pursuits.”
—Margaret S. Mahler (1897–1985)
“In time your relatives will come to accept the idea that a career is as important to you as your family. Of course, in time the polar ice cap will melt.”
—Barbara Dale (b. 1940)
““Never hug and kiss your children! Mother love may make your children’s infancy unhappy and prevent them from pursuing a career or getting married!” That’s total hogwash, of course. But it shows on extreme example of what state-of-the-art “scientific” parenting was supposed to be in early twentieth-century America. After all, that was the heyday of efficiency experts, time-and-motion studies, and the like.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)