SG appoints Ambassador Roed Terje Larsen of Norway as his Special Coordinator in the occupied territory to serve as a focal point for all United Nations economic, social and other assistance to the Palestinians in the occupied territory. He would provide overall guidance to and facilitate coordination among the United Nations programmes and agencies to ensure an integrated and unified approach to economic and social development and would support the implementation of the Declaration of Principles, as requested by the parties.

Ambassador Roed-Larsen, who was born on 22 November 1947, began his career as an academic, studying history, philosophy and sociology. He taught Sociology and Philosophy at the Universities of Bergen and Oslo, before establishing the Fafo Institute for Applied Social Science in Oslo in 1981.

As Director of Fafo, he initiated a research project into the living conditions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The relationships with both Palestinians and Israelis that he established during the period of preparing and implementing this project led to a request by the Palestinian Liberation Organization in 1992, that he help establish a secret channel for negotiations between the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Government of Israel. Those negotiations concluded with the signing of the Declaration of Principles at the White House on 13 September 1993.

In 1993, Mr. Roed-Larsen was appointed Ambassador and Special Advisor to the Norwegian Foreign Minister for the Middle East peace process.