High-level policy dialogue: “Macroeconomic policies in support of a post-2015 sustainable development agenda” | Department of Economic and Social Affairs

Background

Background

• What are the key features of a broad, coherent and integrated macro-economic policy framework to support global sustainable development through economic efficiency, social equality and environmental sustainability?

• How can we ensure economic and financial stability with macro-economic policies that foster robust and inclusive growth of output and employment?

• What are the greatest challenges faced by international financial, trade, development and environmental institutions in coordinating policies for supporting the formulation and implementation of the post-2015 sustainable development agenda?

Biographies

Mr. Wu Hongbo

UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs

Mr. Wu Hongbo

UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs

Mr. Wu Hongbo was appointed United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs on 1 August 2012. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Wu served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to the Federal Republic of Germany. Among his various diplomatic assignments, Mr. Wu served as China’s Ambassador to the Philippines.

Mr. Min Zhu

Deputy Managing Director, IMF

Mr. Min Zhu

Deputy Managing Director, IMF

Mr. Min ZHU assumed the position of Deputy Managing Director on July 26, 2011. Previously he served as Special Advisor to the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund from May 3, 2010 to July 25, 2011. Mr. Zhu, a native of China, was a Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China. He was responsible for international affairs, policy research, and credit information. Prior to his service at China’s central bank, he held various positions at the Bank of China where he served as Group Executive Vice president, responsible for finance and treasury, risk management, internal control, legal and compliance, and strategy and research. Mr. Zhu also worked at the World Bank and taught economics at both Johns Hopkins University and Fudan University. Mr. Zhu received a Ph.D and an M.A. in economics from Johns Hopkins University, an M.P.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and a B.A. in economics from Fudan University.

Mr. Yonov Frederick Agah

Deputy Director-General, WTO

Mr. Yonov Frederick Agah

Deputy Director-General, WTO

Mr. Mahmoud Mohieldin

Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Mr. Mahmoud Mohieldin

Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Dr. Mohieldin, is an economist with more than 30 years of experience in international finance and development. He is the United Nations Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Agenda.

He was the former Minister of Investment of Egypt from 2004-2010, and most recently, served as the World Bank Group Senior Vice President for the 2030 Development Agenda, United Nations Relations and Partnerships. His roles at the World Bank also included Managing Director, responsible for Human Development, Sustainable Development, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, Finance and Private Sector Development, and the World Bank Institute; World Bank President's Special Envoy on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Post-2015 Development Agenda (later, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)), and Financing for Development; and Corporate Secretary and Executive Secretary to the Development Committee of the World Bank Group's Board of Governors.

Mr. Mohieldin also served on several Boards of Directors in the Central Bank of Egypt and the corporate sector. He was a member of the Commission on Growth and Development and selected a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum in 2005. His professional experience extends into the academic arena as a Professor of Economics and Finance at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University and as a Visiting Professor at several renowned Universities in Egypt, Korea, the UAE, the UK and the USA. He is a member of the International Advisory Board of Durham University Business School. He also holds leading positions in national, regional and international research centers and economic associations.

Mr. Mohieldin holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom; a Master’s in Economics and Social Policy Analysis from the University of York, United Kingdom; a Diploma of Development Economics from the University of Warwick; and a B.Sc. in Economics from Cairo University. He also participated in high-level certification programmes at Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University. In 2018, the American University in Cairo conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of Humane Letters “in recognition of renowned attainments and achievements”.

He has authored numerous publications and articles in leading journals in the fields of economics, finance and development in English and Arabic.

Mr. Achim Steiner

Administrator of UNDP

Mr. Achim Steiner

Administrator of UNDP

Achim Steiner became UNDP Administrator on 19 June 2017 and will serve for a term of four years. The United Nations General Assembly confirmed his nomination on 19 April 2017, following his nomination by Secretary-General António Guterres. Mr. Steiner is also the Vice-Chair of the UN Development Group, which unites the 32 UN funds, programmes, specialized agencies and other bodies that work to support sustainable development.

Over nearly three decades, Achim Steiner has been a global leader on sustainable development, climate resilience and international cooperation. He has worked tirelessly to champion sustainability, economic growth and equality for the vulnerable, and has been a vocal advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals.

Prior to joining UNDP, he was Director of the Oxford Martin School and Professorial Fellow of Balliol College, University of Oxford. Mr Steiner has served across the United Nations system, looking at global challenges from both a humanitarian and a development perspective. He led the United Nations Environment Programme (2006-2016), helping governments invest in clean technologies and renewable energy. He was also Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi. Achim Steiner previously held other notable positions including Director General of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, and Secretary General of the World Commission on Dams.

Achim Steiner has lived and worked in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America and the United States. He graduated in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (MA) from Worcester College, Oxford University and holds an MA from the University of London/School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

Mr. Guy Rider

Director General, ILO

Mr. Guy Rider

Director General, ILO

Born in Liverpool (UK) in 1956, Guy Ryder studied Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cambridge and Latin American Studies at the University of Liverpool. He speaks French and Spanish as well as his mother tongue, English. He started his professional career in 1981 as assistant at the International Department of the Trade Union Congress in London. In 1988, Guy Ryder became Assistant Director and – from 1993 - Director of the Geneva office of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). Guy Ryder first joined the International Labour Organization in 1998 as Director of the Bureau for Workers’ Activities and, from 1999, as Director of the Office of the Director-General. It was during this time that the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda was launched and won support from the international community. In 2002, he was appointed General Secretary of the ICFTU, leading the process of global unification of the democratic international trade union movement. He was elected as first General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in 2006. In September 2010, Guy Ryder came back to the ILO in Geneva as Executive Director. Guy Ryder was elected as ILO Director-General by the ILO's Governing Body in May 2012 and took office on 1 October 2012.

Mr. Mukhisa Kituyi

Secretary-General, UNCTAD

Mr. Mukhisa Kituyi

Secretary-General, UNCTAD

Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi of Kenya became Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD on 1 September 2013. Since 2008, he has served as Chief Executive of the Kenya Institute of Governance, a public policy engagement organization focusing on the interface between academic and policy research and the development of public policy in East Africa. Concurrently, he is a Fellow of the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., on their African Growth Initiative.

Mr. Kituyi was Minister for Trade and Industry from 2003 to 2008, in which capacity he played a leading role in trade diplomacy within the East African region, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Council, the African Union, the European Union-Africa Caribbean and Pacific Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations, and the World Trade Organization negotiations on the Doha Round. Mr. Kituyi studied political science and international relations at the University of Nairobi and later Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, graduating with a BA in 1982. He also attended the University of Bergen in Norway, where he studied social anthropology and comparative production systems, graduating with an MPhil in 1986 and a PhD in 1989. Born in Kenya in 1956, Mr. Kituyi is married and has four children.