was a Japanese diplomat and academic who was Ambassador of Japan to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

and Chairman of

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

in 1988.

Early life

Makoto Taniguchi was born on 31 March 1930.『日中関係の未来を共創する―両国元外交官・大学生の提言』紀伊國屋書店
/ref> He received a B.A. and an M.A. from

Hitotsubashi University , formerly known as , is a national university, national research university in Tokyo, Japan. Often regarded as Japan’s foremost institution for the study of the social sciences, particularly commerce, economics, law, political science, sociolog ...

, and then earned a B.A. at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

in 1959.

Diplomatic career

Taniguchi joined the

Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs The is an executive department of the Government of Japan, and is responsible for the country's foreign policy and international relations. The ministry was established by the second term of the third article of the National Government Organiz ...

in 1959, and served in international organizations including the

GATT The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a legal agreement between many countries, whose overall purpose was to promote international trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs or quotas. According to its p ...

and the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

. He was Ambassador of Japan to the United Nations from 1986 to 1989. In this capacity, he was also Vice Chairman (1987–1988) and Chairman (1988) of the

Executive Board at the international level. He was Deputy Secretary-General of

from 1990 to 1996.

Academic career

After retiring from the diplomatic service, Taniguchi became a professor in the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at

Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...

Death

Taniguchi died from heart failure on 14 January 2024, at the age of 93.元OECD事務次長の谷口誠氏が死去　93歳

References

1930 births 2024 deaths Chairmen and presidents of UNICEF Hitotsubashi University alumni Japanese officials of the United Nations Permanent representatives of Japan to the United Nations Academic staff of Waseda University {{Japan-diplomat-stub