Global Economic Agenda - Members

Convenor:

Dr. Fantu Cheru, professor of International Development at American University in Washington D.C. He is a socio-economist who specializes in rural development, small-scale enterprise environmental planning and resource management, urban and regional planning, participatory research methods, and institutional building and training. He received his Ph. D. in Political Economy from Portland State University and has been a consultant for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Center for Human Settlements (Habitat) and the African Development Foundation (ADF) among others. Dr. Cheru is the author of many articles and several books. He has written extensively on development in the African context including The Silent Revolution in Africa: Debt, Development and Democracy (Zed Press, 1989), Ethiopia: Options for Rural Development (Zed Press 1990), and The Not So Brave New World: Rethinking Regional Integration in Post-Apartheid Southern Africa (Bradlow Occasional Paper Series 1992).

Advisor of the Track:

Dr. Colin Bradford, Jr., Research Professor of Economics and International Relations and Distinguished Economist in Residence at American University. He holds a joint appointment between the Department of Economics and the School for International Service. Professor Bradford is the convener of a group of American University faculty and distinguished international economists to discuss and undertake research on "Globalization in Crisis: An Action Agenda for Global Human Security and Sustainability". Between 1994 and 1998, Mr. Bradford was Chief Economist of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) where he served as a Presidential Appointee in the Clinton Administration. From 1990 to 1994, Mr. Bradford was Head of Research at the Development Centre of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris. Prior to serving with the OECD, he was the senior staff member in charge of the international economic outlook work of the Strategic Planning Division of the World Bank. He is author and editor of several publications including The New Paradigm of Systemic Competitiveness: Toward More Integrated Policies in Latin America, and numerous articles on the East Asia trade and development experience. Colin Bradford received his B.A. degree in History from Yale University and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Economics from Columbia University.

Members:

Mr. Tony Addison, Deputy Director of the World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) of the United Nations University has twenty-three years of experience in working with developing country governments and donor agencies (including DFID, ILO, UNICEF, UNU and the World Bank). He has prepared donor and government strategy papers on poverty and economic reform, participated in World Bank public expenditure reviews and other missions (including Bulgaria, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe) and designed and managed research projects on poverty and economic policy, the causes of conflict, post-conflict reconstruction, fiscal policy, and debt relief. Mr. Addison has published in peer reviewed journals including European Journal of Political Economy, Journal of African Economies, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of International Development, Journal of Peace Research, and World Development and written the following books From Conflict to Recovery in Africa (Oxford University Press 2003), Fiscal Policy for Development, and Debt Relief (both Palgrave-Macmillan, Forthcoming 2004).

Ms. Regina Amadi-Njoku, joined the ILO in 2000 as Regional Director of Field Programmes in Africa. Before joining the ILO she worked as Gender Advisor (1997-99) and then as Regional Director for UNIFEM based in Lagos (1999-2000). She also held the position of Vice-President of Mayatech Corporation in Maryland, USA (1993-96) and was Member of the Coca-Cola Advisory Board in Atlanta (1992-95). She has also served as Project Coordinator at the Economic Development Institute of the World Bank (1987-1992). She has lectured at the University of Maryland and Howard University in Washington D.C. in variety of subjects including linguistics, African literature and sociology, management and gender issues and published extensively on development and gender issues. She has received several honours including an Award for Outstanding Achievement from the International Black Women's Congress US, in 1987.

Dr. Martti Hetemäki, Permanent Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Finance of Finland. Mr. Hetemäki is responsible for leading and coordinating the work of the Economics Department and the Financial Markets Department. Since 1982 he worked as the Head of the Economics Department in the Ministry of Finance. Mr. Hetemäki received his B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Hull and a Doctorate Degree in Political Science from the University of Helsinki.

Mr. Anthony Hill, has had a long career in Jamaica's public service. During his diplomatic career Ambassador Hill has been chief negotiator for GATT/WTO Rounds of Multilateral Trade Negotiations and spokesman for the Group of 77 in money and finance, and trade and development in UNCTAD and other UN bodies. He presently advises private and public international organizations, is a member of the Cultural Advisory Council of Jamaica's University of Technology and maintains an active interest in public policy issues. He is Convenor of the Reflexion Group of former Ministers, Ambassadors and Heads of international organizations concerned with current social and economic issues of global concern.

Mr. José Olivio Miranda Oliveira, Assistant Secretary General of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, Brussels. Mr. Oliveira is a civil engineer who became President of the Engineer's Union in Bahia State in 1981. In 1984, he was a founding member of the Central Única dos Trabalhadores Brazil (CUT) and was elected to the national executive of the Brazilian trade union center. Since 1996 he has been a titular member of the Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation. He has also represented Brazilian workers in Mercosur and Organisation of American States bodies and served as vice- president of a Commission of the Organization of American States COSATE.

Ms. Maureen O'Neil, President of the International Development Research Centre, Canada (IDRC), since 1997. A graduate in sociology from Carleton University, Ms. O'Neil has spent a good part of her professional life in the areas of public policy, research, policy analysis and development and worked for a number of government departments and agencies. Previous positions include President of the North South Institute (1989-1995), Chair of the Board of Governors of Carleton University (1993-1995), Secretary General of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, Chair of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. She represented Canada on the UN Commission on the Status of Women and on OECD committees, and has been a member of United Nations groups such as the UN Committee for Development Planning and the UN Research Institute for Social Development. Since 1995, she has also been a partner with the Institute on Governance and a member of board of International IDEA.

Ms. Aida Opoku-Mensah, from Ghana and based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is Team Leader for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa's ICTs for Development Programme implementing the African Information Society Initiative (AISI). Formerly program officer for media, arts and culture in the Ford Foundation West Africa office in Lagos, Nigeria, and before then regional director of Panos Southern Africa based in Lusaka, Zambia, Ms Opoku-Mensah has written extensively on media/communication, Information Society issues and development in Africa. Her publications among others include Signpost on the Superhighway: African environment, Up in the Air: the state of broadcasting in Southern Africa, as well as other such documents such as 'Democratising access to the Information Society - theme paper for African Development Forum '99 on Globalisation and the challenges to Africa of the Information Age'.

Mr. Knut R. Sørlie, the Assistant Director of the International Department in NHO, the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry. Mr. Sørlie has held several positions in NHO, e.g. he served as the Director of the NHO Office in Brussels and as an advisor to the Department of Strategy. Mr. Sørlie has been a member in the WTO working of UNICE since 1996 and has several times been a Member of Official Norwegian delegation to WTO Ministerial Conferences. He is a Vice-Chairman of BIAC (OECD) Trade Committee and a member of ICC Committee on Trade and Investment. In 2003 he was selected to take part in the Norwegian National Defence College. Mr. Sørlie has published several articles on trade policy issues in national press and is an author of many NHO publications related to EU, trade policy and global issues. Mr. Sørlie holds a Master's Degree in Political Science from the University of Oslo and Master of Management from the Norwegian School of Management BI - Executive School.

Ms. Anna Tibaijuka, The Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). Prior to joining Habitat, Mrs. Tibaijuka was the Special Coordinator for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked and Small Island Developing Countries at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). In this role, she was responsible for strengthening the capacity of LDCs in trade negotiations with the World Trade Organisation. From 1993 to 1998, when she joined UNCTAD, Mrs. Tibaijuka was Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Dar-es-Salaam. Mrs. Tibaijuka is the founding Chairperson of the Tanzanian National Women's Council (BAWATA). She has been a Board Member of the Tanzania Economic Policy Development and Management Foundation and is a Director of a number of private companies dedicated to encouraging entrepreneurship and efficiency in the marketing of agricultural commodities. Mrs. Tibaijuka has also been a Board Member of UNESCO's International Scientific Advisory Board since November 1997. She has published five books and numerous articles and papers including Poverty and Social Exclusion in Tanzania (ILO, International Institute for Labour Studies, 1996); The Social Services Crisis of the 1990s (Ashgare Publishing Ltd, London, 1998). A Tanzanian national, Mrs. Tibaijuka holds a Doctorate of Science in Agricultural Economics from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala.