Retired Ambassador Dr. Üner Kırdar is a former Turkish diplomat and a
senior United Nations official. He has served at the UN in various high
level capacities, including as Director of the Governing Council
Secretariat and External Relations of United Nations Development
Programme (1980-91) and as Senior Advisor to the Administrator of UNDP
(1992-98). Dr Kırdar was the main architect of the UNDP Development
Study Programme, established in 1981. He has held senior positions in
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, including Director for
International Economic Organizations and Deputy Permanent Representative
of Turkey to the UN office in Geneva. Dr Kırdar is the author, editor
and contributor to more than 17 books and has published extensively on
international cooperation and human development. He graduated from the
Faculty of Law, Istanbul University, undertook post-graduate studies at
the London School of Economics and received his doctorate in
international economics and law from Cambridge University.