Restoring confidence in multilateral process central to Shenzhen meeting.

The UN High-Level Advisory Board (HLAB) on Economic and Social Affairs – a group of former Heads of State, Senior Government officials, Nobel Laureate and other eminent experts on economic and social policies – will re-convene in Shenzhen, China on 16-17 October 2018 to further discussions aimed at strengthening the UN’s role in promoting sustainable development and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Shenzhen gathering follows the Board’s first meeting that was held in New York earlier this year in July in which members discussed global economic prospects, development implications of frontier technologies, globalization, inequality and migration. In furthering discussions on cross-cutting issues in the second meeting, the Board will focus on emerging challenges in multilateralism and the imperatives of restoring confidence in multilateral processes. Multidimensional inequality, global financial stability, linkages between economic development in China and the rest of the world, will be the other topics on the agenda.

Outputs of the HLAB meetings serve to inform the broad efforts by the United Nations senior management to reposition the organization in supporting Member States’ implementation of the transformative 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Board is entrusted to offer their insights on how the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) can advance its critical role in strengthening the United Nations thought leadership on sustainable development.

Under the guidance of the Secretary-General, the HLAB is convened by Mr. Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs of the UN.

The second HLAB meeting will be co-organized by UNDESA and the China Center for International Knowledge on Development. In addition to the HLAB members, Mr. Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, will also attend the Board meeting in Shenzhen.

Board Membership

Following Members of the Board have been appointed for a two-year term:

  • Giancarlo Corsetti, Professor of Macroeconomics at University of CambridgeCristina Duarte, former Minister of Finance, Planning and Public Administration (2006-2016), Cape Verde
  • Marcel Fratzscher, President of DIW BerlinAnastasia J. Gage, Professor at the Department of Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University
  • Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University
  • Merit E. Janow, Dean, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
  • Ricardo Lagos, Honorary Chairman of the Interamerican Dialogue; former President of Chile (2000-2006)
  • Justin Yifu Lin, Dean, Institute of New Structural Economics, Professor and Honorary Dean of National School of Development at Peking University
  • José Antonio Ocampo, Member of the Board of Banco de la República (central bank), Colombia and Professor, Columbia University
  • Jeffrey D. Sachs, University Professor, Columbia University
  • Joseph E. Stiglitz, University Professor, Columbia University
  • Heizo Takenaka, Professor Emeritus, Keio University and Professor, Toyo University
  • Izabella Mônica Vieira Teixeira, former Minister of Environment (2010-2016), Brazil
  • Kori Udovički, Head of Center for Advanced Economic Studies (CEVES)
  • Ernesto Zedillo, Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization; former President of Mexico (1994-2000)
  • Min Zhu, Chairman, National Institute of Financial Research, Tsinghua university
  • Elliot Harris, DESA ASG for Economic Development and UN Chief Economist (Ex Officio member)

 Click here for short bios of the Board Members.