The Biography of former Director-General, Carlos Magariños

 

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Carlos Magariños was Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) beginning in December 1997, when he was elected for a four-year term - making him the first Argentine, as well as the youngest person, to head a United Nations specialized agency. In December 2001, he was re-elected as Director-General for a further period of four years at the Ninth Session of the UNIDO General Conference. In December 2002 Mr. Magariños concluded a two-year chairmanship of the High-Level Committee on Programmes of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB). He was the first to be appointed to this position by the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan.

During his first term of office, the Director-General implemented an aggressive reform programme that has received worldwide recognition. Greater confidence in the Organization has brought full budgetary backing as well as a significant increase in both voluntary contributions and technical cooperation delivery. The Director-General has consistently advocated the cause of multilateralism and the need for a development agenda that better addresses the threats and opportunities the developing countries face with globalization.

The Director-General's experience in industry and trade goes back well before his entry into the international arena. At the age of 31, he was named State Secretary for Industry and Mining of Argentina during the first term of President Carlos Menem (1993-1996). Previously he occupied the position of National Director for Foreign Trade (1991-1992)-awarded through public competition-and Under-Secretary of State for Industry (1992-1993). In 1996 he became Economic and Trade Representative of the Argentine Government in Washington, D.C., with the rank of Ambassador and State Secretary, where he remained until elected Director-General of UNIDO.

In December 2002, Mr. Magariños concluded a two-year chairmanship of the High-Level Committee on Programmes of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB). He was the first to be appointed to this position by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan.

Academic experience: In 1989 Mr. Magariños graduated from the National University of Buenos Aires with a master's degree in Business Administration. He was Associate Professor of Microeconomics (1986), Technical Coordinator in Research Methodology of Investigation (1987) and Assistant Professor of Foreign Trade Institutions (1989) in Buenos Aires. He studied in Italy at the International Development Law Institute in Rome where he followed courses on the structure of foreign debt negotiations (1990). He was also Associate Professor for Argentine and Latin American Economic Issues at Salvador University, Buenos Aires (1990) and taught on the subject of imports and exports by small- and medium-sized enterprises at the University of Belgrano, Buenos Aires (1990). In 1997, he studied mergers and acquisitions at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, United States of America.

Publications: Carlos Magariños is the author of numerous articles and research works on economic development, trade issues and UN reform. Among these are:

• Economic Development and UN Reform: Towards a Common Agenda for Action - A Proposal in the Context of the Millennium Development Goals. (United Nations publication) published in 2005;(available online and in hard copy, see www.unido.org/un-reform-book)
• Updating and Fleshing Out the Development Agenda. (United Nations publication) published in 2003;
• China in the WTO - The Birth of a New Catching-Up Strategy. (Palgrave - Macmillan, Great Britain) published in 2002;
• Reforming the UN System: UNIDO's Need-Driven Model (Kluwer Law International, the Netherlands) published in 2001;
• Gearing Up for a New Development Agenda - Marginalization vs. Prosperity: How to Improve and Spread the Gains of Globalization (United Nations publication) published in 2000 and
• El rol del estado y la politica industrial de los '90  (The Role of the State and Industrial Policy in the '90s), (Macchi, Argentina), published in 1995.

Awards: As Director-General of UNIDO, Carlos Magariños has received a number of decorations and awards, including four titles Honoris Causa, and membership of a number of prestigious institutions: <dl>

• 1999: Professor Honoris Causa, Lomonosov State University, Moscow;
• 2000: Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Economic Sciences and Public Admin. Budapest, Hungary;
• 2000: Performance in the year 2000 (Trophée des performances de l'année 2000) from the Institut Supérieur de Gestion (ISG) Paris;
• 2000: Order of San Carlos, Republic of Colombia;
• 2001: Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Social and Business Sciences of Buenos Aires, Argentina;
• 2001: Order of Quetzal, Government of Guatemala;
• 2001: Peter the Great International Prize, Government of The Russian Federation;
• 2002: Honorary Doctor of the National Technical University of Ukraine - Kyiv Polytechnic Institute;
• 2002: Prix de la Fondation 2002, Crans Montana Forum, Monte Carlo;
• 2003: Order of Merit, Government of Italy;
• 2004: Kennedy Cross, John F. Kennedy University, Argentina;
• 2004: Order of Industrial Merit, Government of Colombia.
• 2004: Priyadarshni Academy Award, India.
• 2005: National Order "Al Merito", at the level of Grand Cross, Government of Ecuador.
• </dl> Mr. Magariños is married and has a son.

  Mr. Magariños was succeeded as Director-General of UNIDO in December 2005 by Mr. Kandeh Yumkella.

  Dec. 2005