Secretary-General Appoints Mourad Wahba of Egypt Director, Regional Bureau for Arab States, United Nations Development Programme

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Mourad Wahba of Egypt as Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Mr. Wahba will succeed Sima Bahous of Jordan.  The Secretary-General is grateful to Ms. Bahous for her dedication and commitment to the Organization during her term as Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States at UNDP.

Mr. Wahba brings many years of leadership experience to this position.  He has been the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Haiti since 2015.  Prior to this, he served as Deputy Director and Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Regional Bureau of Arab States, UNDP, in New York (2013-2015).  Previous roles include Director, Security Office, Bureau of Management, New York (2009-2013); and United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative (2006-2009) in Morocco.  He was also Director of United Nations Affairs, UNDP New York (2001-2006), and prior to that served as Deputy Resident Representative in Guyana (1999-2001).

Deeply committed to promoting sustainable socioeconomic development, alleviating poverty and pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals in the Arab World, he has extensive experience working in complex emergencies and development situations and is passionate about ensuring security and better livelihoods for people of the region.

A keen advocate of democratic governance and human development, and a strong believer in international development cooperation, Mr. Wahba holds a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Oxford.

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*     This supersedes Press Release SG/A/1568 of 8 May 2016.