UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations yesterday named former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark as the next head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), one of the top jobs in the world body.
The UNDP, which employs nearly 8,000 people in 166 countries and has a budget of some $5 billion, is the United Nations’ global development network, providing training, advice and support for developing countries.
Ms Clark, whose centre-left Labour-led government of New Zealand was ousted in an election last November after nine years in power, had been backed for the UN post by the new National-led government. She quit as head of the Labour party after the election loss.
UN diplomats said the choice of Ms Clark, who would serve a four-year term if confirmed by the UN General Assembly, reflected a desire for a candidate with experience of political governance.
She replaces Kemal Dervis of Turkey, who stepped down at the end of last month. Since then, the agency has been run by Mr Dervis’s deputy, Ad Melkert.
UN spokeswoman Michele Montas, announcing the nomination, said Ms Clark was “expected to bring to the position her well-honed consensus-building skills and commitment to a multilateral approach to addressing global financial and development issues”.
UNDP was at the centre of controversy during the Bush administration. The administration sought to show that it had engaged in financial malpractice in North Korea, but an external inquiry cleared the agency of serious wrongdoing.
Ms Clark (59), a former political science lecturer with a passion for mountaineering, has been a member of parliament since 1981 and was New Zealand’s first elected female leader.
She opposed the invasion of Iraq, but committed New Zealand special forces to fight in Afghanistan. – (Reuters)