Dr. R.M. Marty M. Natalegawa was appointed as the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Indonesia on 22 October 2009. Prior to his appointment as Foreign Minister, he served as the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Indonesia to the United Nations in New York (2007 – 2009). Among his recent responsibilities as the Permanent Representative of Indonesia was as the President of the Security Council in November 2007 and Chairman of the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee on the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2007–2008 (Indonesia served as an elected member of the Security Council in 2007–2008); Chairman of the Asia Group in October 2008. He also led Indonesia’s delegation at various multilateral negotiations and participated actively at various academic fora on the subject of the United Nations.