Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter was born in Argentina on 25 August 1948.

He began his diplomatic career in 1972 and joined the Permanent Mission of Argentina to the United Nations in 1975. In 1980, he was appointed Head of Cabinet to the Under-Secretary for Foreign Policy. Over the next seven years, he was posted to the Permanent Mission of Argentina to the United Nations. In 1991, he became Director of Nuclear and Security Affairs.

As Director of Nuclear and Security Affairs and as Under-Secretary for Foreign Policy (1992-1994 and 2002, respectively), he had the primary responsibility for the formulation and development of Argentine policy concerning non-proliferation, regional and international peace and security and terrorism and other related crimes.

Ambassador Pfirter actively participated in the Argentine-Brazilian Nuclear Safeguards Agreement, the Argentine-Brazilian-IAEA-ABACC ("Quadripartite") Nuclear Safeguard Agreement, and the Tlatelolco Treaty as a Chief Negotiator. In addition, he was Director of the Argentinean-Brazilian Agency for the Account and Control of Nuclear Materials (ABACC) from 1992 to 1994. He worked as a Supervisor of the Argentinean Delegations in negotiations with the United Kingdom concerning the South Atlantic (1992-2000).

Ambassador Pfirter was actively involved with drafting the legislation concerning Argentina’s adherence to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and Argentina’s Regime for Export of Sensitive Materials. He was also involved with the creation of the Argentine Space Agency ("Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales"), of which he became Director in 1993.

From 1995 to 2000, he served as Ambassador of the Argentine Republic to the United Kingdom. During this period he served as a Member of the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on International Security (1994-1996), and President of the General Assembly of the International Maritime Organisation (1995-1997).

Since 2000, he has been involved with the River Plate Commission as President of the Argentine Delegation. He also held the posts of Under-Secretary for Foreign Policy (2002), and the Presidency of the Argentine Commission on the Continental Shelf (Law of the Sea Convention) concurrently.

On 25 July 2002, the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention appointed Ambassador Pfirter by acclamation as OPCW Director-General for the period from 2002 to 2006. On 10 November 2005, the Tenth Session of the Conference of the States Parties unanimously approved the renewed appointment of Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter as OPCW Director General for a second mandate from 2006 to 2010.