New Permanent Observer for South Centre Presents Letter of Appointment

(Based on information provided by the Protocol and Liaison Service)

The new Permanent Observer for the South Centre to the United Nations, Manuel (Butch) F. Montes, presented his letter of appointment to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

In his current role as the Geneva-based organization’s Senior Adviser on Finance and Development, Mr. Montes assists developing countries in monitoring the ongoing global financial crisis, including researching appropriate national responses.  Prior to that position, he served as Chief of Development Strategies and Policy Analysis at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs from 2009 to 2011 and Chief of Policy Analysis and Development at the Department’s Financing for Development Office from 2006 to 2009.

Trained as an economist, Mr. Montes has held various academic positions, including at the Institute of Developing Economies in Tokyo, the Institute for Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore and the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research in Helsinki.  From 2005 to 2006, he served as Regional Programme Coordinator for the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Asia Pacific Trade and Investment Initiative in Colombo, Sri Lanka, prior to which he spent six years as Programme Officer for international economic policy at the Ford Foundation in New York.

He also held the Central Bank Money and Banking Chair at the University of the Philippines from 1984 to 1991.

A native of the Philippines, Mr. Montes received an Bachelor of Arts in economics from the Ateneo de Manila University in 1971 and a Doctor of Philosophy in economics from Stanford University in 1981.

He is married and has one son.