U.N. appoints new development head

UNITED NATIONS, May 7 (UPI) -- A former Turkish finance minister has been appointed Administrator of the U.N. Development Program, one of the key departments of the world organization.

Kemal Dervis, presently a member of Turkey's parliament, is expected to officially start his four-year term on 15 August 2005, according to a U.N. statement. He succeeds Mark Malloch Brown, who held the post for six years until his appointment as U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's chief-of-staff in January.

Dervis, who was nominated by Annan last week, is the first person from a country that receives development assistance -- instead of providing it--to head UNDP, the UN's largest independently funded agency.

With an annual budget of more than US$3 billion, UNDP has staff on the ground in 166 countries helping people and their governments to meet global and national development goals.

As Turkey's Minister for Economic Affairs and the Treasury, Princeton and London School of Economics graduate Dervis, 56, implemented a recovery programme that lifted Turkey out of a devastating financial crisis in 2001.