Desra Percaya, Ph.D
Director General for Asia Pacific and African AffairsMinistry of Foreign Affairs
Republic of Indonesia
Ambassador Desra Percaya, Ph.D. is the current Director General for Asia Pacific and Africa at
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia. Throughout his career, he has
engaged in Indonesia’s policies, particularly regarding international peace and security,
disarmament, human rights, economic development, as well as social and humanitarian affairs.
He was the Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Indonesia to the UN in New York from
2012 to 2016. During his tenure, he assumed several important responsibilities such as the Chair
of the First Committee of the 67th Session of the UNGA, Vice-President of ECOSOC, Chair of the
Working Group on Disarmament of the Non-Aligned Movement, Vice-Chair of the Committee on
Palestine, Vice-Chair of the Committee on Decolonization, and co-facilitator on strengthening
monitoring bodies of human rights mechanism. He also played an instrumental role in Indonesia’s
participation during the negotiation process of the 2030 Development Agenda and Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs).
Prior to his assignment in New York, Ambassador Percaya has been serving as the
Ambassador/Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic Indonesia to the United Nations,
the WTO and other International Organizations in Geneva, from September 2009 to December
2011.
From 2007 to 2009 he acted as the Director for International Security and Disarmament, Ministry
of Foreign Affairs. His main responsibilities were to assist in steering Indonesia’s foreign policy on
the issues of international security, disarmament and weapons of mass destruction, trans-national
organized crime, and combating terrorism.
During Indonesia’s membership at the UN Security Council in 2007-2008, he concurrently served
as the Spokesperson for the Ministry on Security Council Issues and as Chairman of Indonesia’s
Task Force on the Security Council.
Previously, Ambassador Percaya served as Chief-of-Staff in the Office of the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, and also acted as Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2007.
While serving in the aforementioned posts, he first-handedly experienced the growing awareness
and expectations of the public on foreign policy matters within the new democratic setting in
Indonesia, and also faced a number of challenging issues as a result of the dynamic interplay
between domestic politics and the development of regional and international issues.
Ambassador Percaya graduated from the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, University of
Airlangga, Indonesia. Subsequently he was awarded a master degree from Birmingham
University, England, and a completed a doctorate degree from Durham University, England. He
also received an honorary doctorate degree in Diplomacy from Birmingham University in 2014.
He began his career with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia in 1986.
