SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS MAREK BELKA
OF POLAND AS EXECUTIVE SECRETARY O F
ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE
New York and Geneva, 27 December
2005 - The
Secretary-General today announced the
appointment of Marek Belka
of Poland as the new Executive Secretary
of the United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe (UNECE). Mr. Belka
will assume his new functions at a date
to be determined in early 2006.
Marek Belka has outstanding qualifications
and numerous accomplishments in the area
of economics and global economic governance. He
served as Prime Minister of Poland between
May 2004 and November 2005. He
helped to direct Iraq’s post-war
economy by serving first as Chairman
of the Council for International Coordination
for Iraq (responsible for international
aid coordination for the reconstruction
of Iraq, June-October 2003), and later
as Director of Economic Policy (responsible
for the preparation of economic reforms
in Iraq, October 2003-March 2004). He served
as Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister for Finance (February-October
1997 and October 2001-July 2002). He
also served as Chief Economic Adviser
to the President of Poland (1996-1997
and 1998 -2001).
Previously, Mr. Belka was an adviser
and consultant to the Ministry of Finance
and the Ministry of Ownership Transformations
and Central Office of Planning (1990-1996). He
was also a Consultant to the World Bank
between 1990 and 1996 dealing with projects
in Poland, Central and Eastern Europe,
Russia, Uzbekistan and China, and again
from 1997 to 2001. He also served
as Adviser to the Prime Minister of Albania
(1997-2001) and Senior Adviser to JP
Morgan for Central and Eastern Europe
(November 2002-June 2003). Mr. Belka
has authored several books and articles
dealing with socio-economic issues.
Mr. Belka was born on 9 January 1952. He
earned an M.A. (economics of foreign
trade), a Ph.D. in economics and a Ph.D.
(“habilitation” in economics)
from the University of Lódź. He
earned a Fulbright Scholarship at Columbia
University (post-doctoral programme)
and an American Council of Learned Societies’ Scholarship
at the University of Chicago.
Mr. Belka is married
with two children.
For further information,
please contact:
UNECE Information Service
Palais des
Nations, office 356
CH–1211 Geneva
10, Switzerland
Phone: +41 (0)22 917 44 44
Fax: +41 (0)22 917 05 05
E-mail: [email protected]
Ref: ECE/GEN/05/P11