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. In 1982, Kouyaté worked on a rice development project, then moved to the diplomatic service, joining Guinea's delegation in Cote 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. In 1993, he was appointed as the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Somalia for the UNOSOM II mission, then in February 1994 became the Acting Representative. In June 1994, he became the Assistant Secretary-General in the UN Department of Political Affairs, one of his first missions being a tour around ECOWAS member states to discuss the situation in Liberia. He continued his involvement in discussions to build regional support for a resolution of the First Liberian Civil War. He left this job in September 1997 to become the Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a post he held until February 2002. During his time at ECOWAS, Kouyaté was awarded the Legion d'Honneur (Commander), the African Star of Liberia and was made a Commander of the Mono Order of Togo. Prime Minister As a result of a general strike in early 2007, Kouyaté was nominated for the post of Prime Minister of Guinea on 26 February 2007. He was selected by President Lansana Conté from a list provided by trade union leaders. On 1 March, he was sworn in as Prime Minister at a ceremony in Conakry; Conté was not present. His government was named on 28 March, composed of 19 ministers and three secretaries of state; it contained none of the members of the old government.