Annan taps Turkish lawmaker to head UNDP

UNITED NATIONS, April 26 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Tuesday selected a Turkish lawmaker to become the next chief of the U.N. Development Program.

If confirmed, Kemal Dervis will become the first-ever UNDP head from a developing country, breaking U.N. tradition of heading the agency with a representative from a UNDP donor nation. The past six UNDP chiefs have been American or British.

Dervis worked for the World Bank from 1977 to 2001 and served as Turkey's minister for Economic Affairs and the Treasury from March 2001 to August 2002.

The four-year appointment is expected to be approved by the UNDP executive board this week, and then be sent to the U.N. General Assembly for a vote.

The main challenge of the new UNDP chief will be to help carry out the United Nation's "Millennium Development Goals," designed to halve world poverty by 2015.