Lansana Kouyaté

Lansana Kouyaté (born 15 July 1950) is a Guinean politician and diplomat who served as Prime Minister of Guinea from 2007 to 2008. Previously he was Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) from 1997 to 2002.

== Background and earlier career ==

Kouyaté was born in Koba, Guinea, then a French colony. He studied administration at the University of Conakry before joining the civil service. In 1976, he was appointed as Director of Labour, then the following year, moved to become Director of Trade, Prices and Statistics, where he had responsibility for state-owned companies. [1]

In 1982, Kouyaté worked on a rice development project, then moved to the diplomatic service, joining Guinea's delegation in Côte d'Ivoire. In 1985, he returned to the Foreign Ministry in Conakry as head of African and Organisation of African Unity affairs. Two years later, he became Guinea's ambassador to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Sudan, Syria and Turkey. In 1992, he became Guinea's Permanent Representative at the United Nations, where he became Vice President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. [2]

In 1993, he was appointed as the Deputy Special Representative...