Armenia, Vice President of ECOSOC

H.E. Mr. Mher Margaryan is the Vice-President of the Economic and Social Council. In 2019, he was elected Chair of the Commission on the Status of Women for the sixty-fourth and sixty-fifth sessions. He was appointed Permanent Representative of Armenia to the United Nations in 2018. Before that, from 2017 to 2018 Ambassador Margaryan was his country’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations. From 2015 to 2017, he was Minister Plenipotentiary to the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva. He worked as Head of the European Union Division at Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2009 to 2015. With Government experience exceeding two decades, he has served his country in many capacities at Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at Missions abroad.

CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, India

Dr. Arunabha Ghosh is a public policy professional, adviser, author, columnist, and institution builder. As the founder-CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, since 2010, he has led CEEW to the top ranks as one of Asia's leading policy research institutions (seven years in a row); and among the world’s 20 best climate think-tanks in 2013 and 2016. He has been actively involved in the design of the International Solar Alliance since inception. He conceptualised and is a founding board member of the Clean Energy Access Network (CLEAN). With experience in 45 countries, he previously worked at Princeton, Oxford, UNDP (New York), and WTO (Geneva). In 2018, the UN Secretary-General nominated him to the UN's Committee for Development Policy. In 2020, the Government of India appointed him Co-Chair of the energy, environment and climate change track for India’s forthcoming Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP2020). His 2019 TED Talk on air quality (Mission 80-80-80) crossed 100,000 views within three weeks of release. He is one of six members of an international high-level panel of the Environment of Peace initiative.

He is lead author of Jobs, Growth and Sustainability: A New Social Contract for India’s Recovery (CEEW, 2020). He is the co-author/editor of four books: The Palgrave Handbook of the International Political Economy of Energy (2016); Energizing India: Towards a Resilient and Equitable Energy System (SAGE, 2016); Human Development and Global Institutions (Routledge, 2016); and Climate Change: A Risk Assessment (FCO, 2015). Arunabha’s essay “Rethink India’s energy strategy” in Nature was selected as one of 2015’s ten most influential essays.

Arunabha advises governments, industry, civil society and international organisations around the world. This has included India’s Prime Minister’s Office, several ministries and state governments. He was invited by France, as a Personnalité d’Avenir, to advise on the COP21 climate negotiations; and also advised extensively on HFC negotiations. He served on the Executive Committee of the India-U.S. PACEsetter Fund. He has been a member of Track II dialogues with ten countries/regions; and formulated the Maharashtra-Guangdong Partnership on Sustainability. He is a member of the Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority for the National Capital Region.

His monthly columns in the Business Standard (Inflexion Points) and the Hindustan Times (Over The Horizon) are widely read. He has hosted a documentary on water in Africa, featured in National Geographic and Discovery Channel documentaries on energy and climate change, and delivered a TED Talk on air quality. He is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, member of WEF’s Global Future Council on Energy, and an Asia Society Asia 21 Young Leader. He holds a D.Phil. from Oxford and topped Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.

Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Dr. Mohieldin, is an economist with more than 30 years of experience in international finance and development. He is the United Nations Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Agenda.

He was the former Minister of Investment of Egypt from 2004-2010, and most recently, served as the World Bank Group Senior Vice President for the 2030 Development Agenda, United Nations Relations and Partnerships. His roles at the World Bank also included Managing Director, responsible for Human Development, Sustainable Development, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, Finance and Private Sector Development, and the World Bank Institute; World Bank President's Special Envoy on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Post-2015 Development Agenda (later, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)), and Financing for Development; and Corporate Secretary and Executive Secretary to the Development Committee of the World Bank Group's Board of Governors.

Mr. Mohieldin also served on several Boards of Directors in the Central Bank of Egypt and the corporate sector. He was a member of the Commission on Growth and Development and selected a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum in 2005. His professional experience extends into the academic arena as a Professor of Economics and Finance at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University and as a Visiting Professor at several renowned Universities in Egypt, Korea, the UAE, the UK and the USA. He is a member of the International Advisory Board of Durham University Business School. He also holds leading positions in national, regional and international research centers and economic associations.

Mr. Mohieldin holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom; a Master’s in Economics and Social Policy Analysis from the University of York, United Kingdom; a Diploma of Development Economics from the University of Warwick; and a B.Sc. in Economics from Cairo University. He also participated in high-level certification programmes at Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University. In 2018, the American University in Cairo conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of Humane Letters “in recognition of renowned attainments and achievements”.

He has authored numerous publications and articles in leading journals in the fields of economics, finance and development in English and Arabic.

Deputy General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation

Mamadou Diallo was born in Senegal. After earning a master’s degree in philosophy and anthropology, he began working as a philosophy teacher in 1983. He went on to become Social Affairs Advisor at the Ministry of Health and Social Action and Coordinator for the UNICEF/Senegalese government programme for "Children in Need", and then a member of the Economic and Social Council. He became active in the trade union movement in 1981. He became General Secretary of the SYPROS teachers’ union in 1995. He was then elected Confederal Secretary in Charge of Administration of CNTS Sénégal and then he became Confederal Secretary for Education and Training and Director of the confederation’s National Workers’
Education Institute (INEFO). He joined the ICFTU in Brussels in 2003. Following the founding of the ITUC, he became the head of Trade Union Development Cooperation and Education, ITUC-Africa Coordinator and Director of the Human and Trade Union Rights Department. He was elected Deputy General Secretary of
the ITUC in December 2017.

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to development

Mr. Saad Alfarargi obtained a BSc. in Political Science and M.Sc. Political Science from Cairo University, and a degree in International Relations, from the London School of Economics.

Between 1998 and 2012, Mr. Alfarargi served as Ambassador, Permanent Observer of the League of Arab States to the UN in Geneva, Specialized Agencies and other International Organizations in Switzerland. His previous professional activities include: UN Assistant Secretary General (ASG) Assistant Administrator of the UNDP and Regional Director for Arab States, New York; Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs of Egypt; Chief of the Presidential Bureau for Economic Affairs, Presidency, Cairo; Director General for International Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cairo; Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Egypt to the UN in Geneva; Specialized Agencies and other International Organizations in Switzerland; Chief of Cabinet of the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Special Political Adviser, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cairo; Special rapporteur for the United Nations Special Session on Disarmament; Expert for the United Nations Disarmament Centre; Editor-in-Chief of the political affairs periodical “Diplomat”. Currently he is a member of the Arab Thought Forum (Amman, Jordan) and member the Royal Institute of International Affairs (London, United Kingdom). He has published articles on economic development, business and security, international order, peace and security, disarmament and world trade and is a regular commentator on national, regional and international affairs with emphasis on economic and social issues.

Executive Secretary of ESCAP

Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana assumed the position of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) since November 2018.

Prior to joining ESCAP, Ms. Alisjahbana was Professor of Economics at Universitas Padjadjaran in Bandung, Indonesia, a position she assumed since 2005. She joined Universitas Padjadjaran as a lecturer in 1988. She also served on the Governing Board of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), and member of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (Akademi Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia - AIPI), the Forum of Statistics Community (Forum Masyarakat Statistik or Advisory Council of the Indonesian Statistics), the International Advisory Board of the Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies and Council Member of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI).

From 2016 to 2018, She served as Director for the Center for Sustainable Development Goals Studies at Universitas Padjadjaran and Vice President of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (2018). She was also Independent Commissioner (Non Executive Director) of PT Bank CIMB, Niaga, Second largest private Bank in Indonesia. She has also served as Co-chair of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation.

From 2009 - 2014, Ms. Alisjahbana was Minister of National Development Planning and the Head of the National Development Planning Agency (BAPPENAS), Indonesia. During the same period she was Alternate Governor of the World Bank and Alternate Governor of the Asian Development Bank representing the Government of Indonesia.

Ms. Alisjahbana was a member of the High Level Independent Team of Advisors in 2016 to support the ECOSOC Dialogue on the longer term positioning of the United Nations Development System in the context of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. She has been involved in various research projects and consultancies to the United Nations University/Institute for Advanced Study in Tokyo, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Australia, the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), the European Commission, and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Ms. Alisjahbana earned her Bachelor degree in Economics and Development Studies from Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia, a Masters degree in Economics from Northwestern University, USA and a Ph.D in Economics from University of Washington, USA. She was awarded the Mahaputra Adipradana Order(Bintang Mahaputra Adipradan) from the Republic of Indonesia, honorary brevet from the Indonesian Navy and honorary flight wing from the Indonesian Air Force.

Global Director for Poverty, World Bank

Carolina Sanchez, a Spanish national, is currently the Senior Director of the Poverty and Equity Global Practice (GP) at the World Bank. Prior to this assignment, she was the Poverty and Equity GP Practice Manager in the Europe and Central Asia region. Carolina has worked on operations, policy advice and analytical activities in Eastern Europe, Latin America and South Asia, and was part of the core team working on the WDR2012, “Gender Equality and Development”.

Her main areas of interest and expertise include labor economics, poverty and distributional analysis, gender equality and welfare impacts of public policy. She has led reports on poverty and equity, labor markets and economic growth in several countries, as well as social sector operations. She has published articles in refereed journals and edited books on the topics described above. Carolina has a PhD in Economics from Harvard University.