Nagesh KUMAR
Member of ICTSD’s Governing Board
From May 2009, UN Under-Secretary-General Noeleen Heyzer, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), appointed Dr. Nagesh Kumar of India, as Chief of the Macroeconomic Policy and Development Division. Mr. Kumar will serve as the chief economist for ESCAP.
Previously, Dr. Kumar was Director-General of RIS in October 2002. Dr Nagesh Kumar obtained his PhD in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. Dr Kumar joined RIS in 1985 after holding teaching and research positions at the University of Delhi, Indian Institute of Public Administration and National Institute of Science Technology and Development Studies. During 1993-1998, Dr Kumar served on the faculty of the United Nations University - Institute for New Technologies (UNU/INTECH), Maastricht, the Netherlands, and directed its research on FDI and technology transfers in developing countries. He has also served as a consultant to the World Bank, UNDP, UNCTAD, UNIDO, UN-ESCAP, ILO, among other organizations. He received the Exim Bank of India’s first International Trade Research Award in 1989 and shared a GDN Medal awarded by the World Bank in 2000.
He has written extensively on the developmental impact of MNEs and FDI, industrial and technology development policy, the challenge of new technologies for development, on regional economic co-operation, and WTO and development, among other themes.