Pakistani appointed to high-level UN panel

Poverty alleviation, gender equality, child and maternal health, environmental stability, HIV/Aids reduction and a global partnership for development are listed under the Millennium Development Goals, which are a set of specific targets, agreed on by world leaders at a UN Summit in 2000. The year 2015 is the target date to achieve the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).


Kharas is  currently a senior fellow and deputy director for the Global Economy and Development program of the Brookings Institution, an independent think tank in Washington, DC. He currently studies policies and trends influencing developing countries, including aid to poor countries, the emergence of a middle class, the food crisis and global governance and the G-20. He formerly served as a chief economist in the East Asia and Pacific region of the World Bank.

Kharas will be responsible for the report of the high-level panel, tasked with providing recommendations on a global post-2015 agenda with shared responsibilities for all countries with the fight against poverty and sustainable development at its core.

In addition to its 23 members, the panel’s three co-chairs are President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, and Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom. In addition, the secretary-general’s special adviser on post-2015 development planning, Amina J Mohammed, will serve on the panel in an ex-officio capacity.

The panel will hold its first meeting on September 25 on the sidelines of the annual high-level debate of the UN General Assembly. Its report is expected to be submitted to the secretary-general by May 31, 2013.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd, 2012.