CARLOS FORTIN, ASSISTANT SECRETARY-GENERAL AT UNCTAD

28 January 1998

Press Release
SG/A/667
TAD/1853

CARLOS FORTIN, ASSISTANT SECRETARY-GENERAL AT UNCTAD

19980128 Biographical Note Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed Carlos Fortin of Chile as Assistant Secretary-General at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), effective 1 February. Mr. Fortin is currently Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD.

Mr. Fortin joined UNCTAD in 1990. As its Officer-in-Charge between April 1994 and September 1995, he led the preparation for its ninth session (UNCTAD IX), which was held in Midrand, South Africa, in 1996. From 1990 to 1994, he was Deputy to the UNCTAD Secretary-General and Director of the Commodities Division. He was responsible for the preparation of the main report to UNCTAD VIII, held in Cartagena, Colombia, in 1992.

From 1988 to 1990, Mr. Fortin was Director of Programmes of the South Commission in Geneva. He coordinated the preparation of its report entitled The Challenge of the South, published by Oxford University Press.

Previously, Mr. Fortin worked for several years with the Institute of Development Studies, at the University of Sussex, where after a five-year fellowship, he was appointed Director General of the Institute (1979-1985) and subsequently Chairman of the Research Committee (1986-1988). Between 1971 and 1973, he was head of the European Bureau of the Chilean Copper Corporation (CODELCO) in London and Chilean representative to the Intergovernmental Council of Copper Exporting Countries (CIPEC) in Paris.

Mr. Fortin has published two books and a large number of articles, and edited volumes on issues relating to economic development and international trade. He holds degrees from the University of Chile and Yale University.

Born in Santiago de Chile in 1940, Mr. Fortin is married and has two children.

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_----------_ * This press release supersedes Press Release BIO/2521-TAD/1592 of 22 October 1990.