UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Tuesday named former Turkish finance minister Kemal Dervis to become head of the influential UN Development Programme (UNDP).
Dervis, credited with helping steer Turkey through its worst economic crisis of modern times in 2001, is the first-ever UNDP chief to come from a recipient rather than a donor nation, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
The 56-year-old, a former World Bank official, replaces Mark Malloch Brown, the Briton who was named as Annan's new chief-of-staff earlier this year to help the United Nations deal with a string of embarrassing scandals.
The nomination for the four-year appointment will go to the UNDP executive board for approval later this week, Dujarric said, and then go to the UN General Assembly -- which groups all 191 member nations -- for confirmation.
"Mr Dervis has outstanding qualifications and numerous accomplishments in the area of economics and global governance," Dujarric said.
Dervis was widely credited as the driving force behind the hard-hitting economic reforms that saved the country from the brink of financial collapse in 2001.
He took over the reins of the economy in March 2001 when then prime minister Bulent Ecevit summoned him home from the World Bank following a severe financial crisis.
The far-reaching reforms initiated by Dervis restricted political meddling in the economy which, coupled with widespread corruption and cronyism, had contributed to Turkey's financial woes.
The UNDP chief is normally one of the post powerful officials in the UN system. The UNDP is the UN's global development network, and has representatives on the ground in more than 160 countries.
04/26/2005 16:59 GMT