Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations, and Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States, UNDP
H.E. Dr. Abdallah Al Dardari was appointed as UN Assistant Secretary General, UNDP Assistant Administrator, and Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Arab States. He served as UNDP Resident Representative in Afghanistan since 2019, when joining from the World Bank, where he was a Senior Adviser. From 1994 to 1997, he served as Program Officer in UNDP Syria country office and then joined the Arab Trade Financing Program/Arab Monetary Fund. He was appointed in 2003 as Chairman of the State Planning Commission in Syria until 2005, when he became Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs. He further served as Chief Economist with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia in 2011 and later, Deputy Executive Secretary. H.E. Dr. Al Dardari holds a BA in Economics from Richmond College in London, UK, a Master’s in International Relations from the University of Southern California, US, and an interdisciplinary PhD in post-conflict reconstruction from Università Iuav di Venezia, Italy. He also studied international relations at the London School of Economics, UK.
