UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced Friday the appointment of Mirjana Spoljaric Egger of Switzerland as assistant administrator and director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States of the United Nations Development Programme.

Spoljaric Egger currently serves as head of UN and International Organisations Division of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, where she has been instrumental in shaping a set of coherent and relevant Swiss UN policies and priorities in support of the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.

She combines a strong policy background with field experience and has had several assignments in the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in New York and in the Office of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Spoljaric Egger holds a master's degree in philosophy, economics and international law from the University of Basel and the University of Geneva.