SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS CARLOS LOPES EXECUTIVE OFFICE POLITICAL AFFAIRS DIRECTOR

Biographical Note

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS CARLOS LOPES EXECUTIVE OFFICE POLITICAL AFFAIRS DIRECTOR

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has decided to appoint Carlos Lopes as Assistant Secretary-General and Director for Political Affairs in his Executive Office, with effect from 1 June 2006.

Mr. Lopes, a national of Guinea-Bissau, specializes in development and strategic planning.  His achievements include the establishment of a leading research institution in West Africa (INEP) and reforming the 20-year old United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) evaluation system.

Mr. Lopes has authored or edited 20 books and taught at Universities and academic institutions in Lisbon, Coimbra, Zurich, Uppsala, Mexico, San Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.  He is affiliated with a number of academic networks, has helped establish non-governmental organizations and was a consultant for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the Research and Technological Exchange Group (GRET) and Ruraltec Switzerland.  He created one of the first national working groups of the Council for the Development of Economic and Social Research in Africa, based in Dakar, in 1984.

After serving in the Guinea-Bissau public service, in the areas of research, diplomacy and planning, Lopes joined UNDP in 1988 as a development economist.  He rose through the ranks occupying various positions, including Deputy Director for the Office of Evaluation and Strategic Planning, Resident Representative in Zimbabwe and Deputy, and then Director, of the Bureau for Development Policy.  Mr. Lopes attained the rank of Deputy Assistant Administrator and was a member of UNDP’s Executive Team, in recognition for the role he played in developing UNDP’s decentralized policy advisory services and knowledge networking systems.

Mr. Lopes has managed UNDP’s global programme, with a portfolio of $1 billion, and acted for over a year at the level of Assistant Secretary-General.  In June 2003 he became the United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Brazil, the largest UNDP programme in the world.  Since November 2005, he has been Director in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General in charge of political, peacekeeping and humanitarian affairs.

Mr. Lopes has several degrees from the Graduate Institute of Development Studies, University of Geneva, and a PhD in history from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.  He speaks fluent English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.

Mr. Lopes was born on 7 March 1960.

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