Senior Deputy High Representative,
February 2006 – July 2007                               

Ambassador Peter Bas-Backer joined the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1975.

Before taking up his appointment as Senior Deputy High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina he was head of the Dutch Liaison Office in Pristina/Kosovo. The office was responsible, in addition to regular diplomatic operations, for representing the Dutch EU Presidency in Kosovo, from January 2003 until the middle of 2005.

Ambassador Bas-Backer has extensive experience of Southeast Europe as a whole and Bosnia and Herzegovina in particular. From 2001 to 2003 he served as Deputy High Representative for BiH and headed the International Community’s Reconstruction and Return Task Force, responsible for implementation of Annexe Seven of the Dayton Agreement. He has also been responsible, as a Political Counsellor, for issues related to the development of the European Defence and Security Policy and its impact on the Western Balkans. From 1996 to 1997 Ambassador Bas-Backer was Deputy Head of the European Community Monitoring Mission in Former Yugoslavia, and before that he was head of the Eastern Europe Section in the Directorate for European Responsibilities at the Dutch Foreign Ministry, where he acted as deputy coordinator for policies concerning former Yugoslavia.

Ambassador Bas-Backer has a Dutch Public Law degree from the University of Leyden and completed postgraduate studies in Economics, History, Law and Sociology at the Institut European des Hautes Etudes International at Nice, France. He is married with two children. His hobbies include drawing, painting and collage.

Office of the High Representative