Cellist Yo Yo Ma performs at the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo December 11, 2005, paying hommage to this year's Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei.

Cellist Yo Yo Ma will soon become a UN peace envoy but actor Brad Pitt is not yet on the list to get the same honour as his Oscar-winning friend Angelina Jolie.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday met Ma, considered the world's greatest living cellist, and confirmed to reporters that "Yes, he will be a peace envoy."

Asked if Brad Pitt would become a UN goodwill ambassador, Annan laughed and said, "I will consider it and I will let him know you recommended him."

Jolie, who is pregnant with a child fathered by Pitt, is a goodwill envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Pitt has joined her on trips, including to Pakistan last month to highlight the plight of earthquake victims. He then donated 40 orthopaedic beds to a hospital in Islamabad.

Ma, 50, a professional musician since the age of 5, was born in Paris and came to study in New York as a child prodigy. He graduated from Harvard in 1976 and is known for his interpretations of Bach and Beethoven and his ability to switch to lighter music, including bluegrass.

Individual UN agencies for children, refugees, development, population and the environment have appointed their own goodwill ambassadors, such as Nobel laureate author Nadine Gordimer for the UN Development Program or Jolie for the refugee agency.

Ma will join a list of personalities compiled by Annan and called "messengers of peace".

They include environmentalist Jane Goodall, heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, tennis star Vijay Amritraj, Italian writer and journalist Anna Cataldi, actor Michael Douglas, singer-composer Enrico Macias, basketball player Earvin "Magic" Johnson, jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, opera singer Luciano Pavarotti and Nobel laureate writer Elie Weisel.

(Agencies)

peace envoy: （和平大使）

goodwill envoy : （亲善大使）