Mr Tekie, a national of the United Kingdom, holds a B.Sc. in Agricultural Engineering from the "Haile Sellassie I" University, Ethiopia, an M.Sc. in Agricultural Engineering from Silsoe College, Cranfield University, United Kingdom and a Ph.D. in Remote Sensing (Vegetation and Land Use) from Imperial College, London, United Kingdom. Mr Tekie started his career in 1973 as Supervisor for the Ethio-Swedish extension project in Northern Ethiopia. From 1974 to 1980, he worked as Project Coordinator of the Ethio-Swedish Extension and Project Implementation Department (EPID) in Eritrea. Subsequently, he spent three years serving as a Soil and Water Conservation Expert in Eritrea and Ethiopia for the Ministry of Agriculture and, during this period, served as part-time lecturer on Soil and Water Conservation at the University of Addis Ababa. In 1990, he worked as a Freelance Consultant in Africa on soil science and remote sensing for the European Commission (EC), SOS FAIM , ACORD UK, Norwegian People's Aid, Development Fund of Norway, IFAD, FAO and the Netherlands Development Cooperation. In 1994, he joined the Ministry of Agriculture of Eritrea as Coordinator of Projects and Senior Adviser to the Minister. Two years later, he was nominated Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Djibouti with a four-year mandate. Between 2000 and 2002, he worked as a Freelance Consultant in Regional Development, Agriculture and the Environment for the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and the Pastoral and Environment Network in the Horn of Africa (PENHA). Mr Tekie joined FAO in 2002 as Head of the FAO Sub-office in the Sulamaniyah Governorate in Northern Iraq. In 2004, he was appointed Emergency Coordinator for Southern Iraq, based in Kuwait. Since 2005, he had been serving as Cluster Coordinator (Agriculture, Food Security, Environment and Natural Resources Cluster) and Officer-in-Charge of the FAO Programme in Iraq. Mr Tekie succeeds Mr S. Verniau as FAO Representative in Afghanistan.