Ms. Mieko Yabuta has been appointed as the new Country Director of UNFPA Turkmenistan.

A Japanese national, Mieko Yabuta comes with extensive experience at UNFPA and at private sector in Japan.

She joins UNFPA Turkmenistan from her previous posts as UNFPA Representative in Morocco (2011-2015), and Laos (2006-2011). Prior to that, she has held various positions at UNFPA Headquarters in New York, as well as at Country Offices in Madagascar (1998-2001) and Tanzania (1994-1998) where she served as UNFPA Deputy Representative.

She first joined the organization in 1992 as Junior Professional Officer, after having worked at IBM and Sony Corporation in Japan and served as a volunteer of the Japan Oversees Cooperation Volunteers, a programme that is part of Japan’s bilateral cooperation programme, in Morocco (1984-1986).

Mieko  holds a Master of Science degree in Public Health in Developing Countries from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in UK, and a Master of Public Administration from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, USA.

She speaks fluent English and French in addition to her native language, Japanese.