Secretary-General Appoints Oscar Fernandez-Taranco of Argentina Assistant Secretary-General for Development Coordination

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Oscar Fernandez-Taranco of Argentina as Assistant Secretary-General for Development Coordination.  He succeeds Robert Piper of Australia, who was appointed as Special Adviser on Solutions to Internal Displacement.  The Secretary-General is deeply grateful to Mr. Piper for his dedicated service and commitment and his steadfast stewardship in operationalizing the new Development Coordination Office.

Mr. Fernandez-Taranco has over 30 years of experience in the United Nations system, having worked at Headquarters and in the field, managing development, political, peacebuilding, human rights and humanitarian operations in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific and Europe.

He is currently Acting Assistant Secretary-General for Development Coordination.  Prior to this, he served as Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Strengthening Programmatic Integration (2021-2022); Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support in the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (2014-2021); and Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs in the then Department of Political Affairs (2009-2014).  He also served as United Nations Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in the United Republic of Tanzania.

He previously served as Deputy Special Representative of the Administrator in the West Bank and Gaza Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People (1994-1998); Deputy Assistant Administrator and Deputy Regional Director in the Regional Bureau for Arab States, UNDP (2001-2006); and Resident Representative, United Nations Resident Coordinator and Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Haiti (1998-2001).  He also worked as Country Programme Officer with the United Nations Capital Development Fund and World Food Programme, covering countries in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean.  He started his career in the United Nations as a United Nations Volunteer in Benin.

Mr. Fernandez-Taranco was educated at Cornell University, where he studied economics, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studying urban regional economic planning.  He speaks English, Spanish and French fluently.

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* This supersedes Press Release SG/A/1501 of 2 September 2014.