Fekitamoeloa ʻUtoikamanu
Fekitamoeloa Katoa ‘Utoikamanu is a Tongan diplomat and the United Nations High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States. Prior to her appointment on 12 April 2017 by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, she was Chief Executive Officer of Tonga’s Ministry of Tourism.
‘Utoikamanu is a graduate of the University of Auckland. She received her Bachelor of Commerce in Economics degree in 1980 and her Master of Commerce in Economics in 1983. She is married and has one child.
Prior to her appointment to the United Nations in 2005, she served in Tonga's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs from 1991 to 2002, then as Secretary of Foreign Affairs from 2002 to 2005. She subsequently served as her country's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, where she also represented the Pacific Islands Forum, from February 15, 2005 to late April 2009.
Her concomitant ambassadorial rank was that of Tonga's ambassador to the United States, Venezuela and Cuba, and High Commissioner to Canada, from May 26, 2005.
In April 2009, she stepped down from her ambassadorial duties, both in the United Nations and the four countries above, and was appointed Deputy Director General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.
As Tonga's representative at the United Nations, ʻUtoikamanu emphasised the need to address the issue of climate change.
