GEI Luncheon in honor of Amb. John Richardson, EU Delgation of the European Commission to the UN – New York, May 11, 2004 – Remarks by GEI President Lucio Caputo.
Amb. John RICHARDSON was born in Maghull, Lancashire in England, (22.12.1944).
He is married to German radio journalist, Irmtraud Richardson and have three children. Of English mother tongue is fluent also in French and German.
He received his MA in Natural Sciences (Chemistry) at the Downing College, in Cambridge, in 1966
From 1966-1967 he was assistant teacher of English at Neukoellner Gymnasium, in Berlin.
In 1969 he received a M.Sc. in Economics with distinction from University College in London.
From 1969 to 1973 he was working on the economies of African countries at the Economics and Statistics Department of Unilever Ltd., in London and then on the German economy and industrial microeconomics at the Deutsche Unilever in Hamburg.
In October 1973 he entered the European Commission as Administrator dealing with economic aspects of environmental policy.
In October 1978 he was dealing with external aspects of energy policy, petrochemicals trade, and from April 1981 on, also with relations with the Gulf States and the Euro-Arab Dialogue.
From September 1982 on, he was involved with policy development on international trade in services.
In October 1987 he was Head of the section, “Community External Policy on International Trade in Services”, and acted as community negotiator in the “Group for Negotiations on Services” in the Uruguay Round. In June 1988 he became secretary of the Commission coordinating group on External Aspects of the internal Market.
In March 1989 he was Head of the Division for the Unit dealing with relations with the United States and in February 1993 became Head of Division for Unit dealing with relations with Japan.
In October 1996 was appointed Deputy Head, of the Commission Delegation in Washington DC and in May 2001 Head of the Delegation to the United Nations in New York.
Ambassador Richardson is also Member of the Council of Senior Fellows of the Salzburg Seminar and Member of the Board of the European Institute, in Washington, DC.
The luncheon was held on May 11, 2004 in the Orangerie Room of the restaurant, Le Cirque 2000.