Leaders dialogue: Charting a new development course in a changing world

Rebeca Grynspan, of Costa Rica, became UNCTAD's eighth Secretary-General on 13 September 2021 and is the first woman to lead the organization.

Prior to her UNCTAD appointment, she was the Ibero-American secretary-general from 2014 to 2021, also the first woman to head the organization. During her mandate, she has coordinated the 22-member Iberoamerican Conference and led four key summits of Heads of State and Government. 

In 2010 she was appointed Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and prior to that was UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.  

Prior to joining the United Nations, Ms. Grynspan served as Vice-President of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998. She was also Minister of Housing, Minister Coordinator of Economic and Social Affairs, and Deputy Minister of Finance. In 2021 she was named Special International Advisor to the newly created Economic and Social Council of Argentina and invited to join as member of the G20 High-Level Independent Panel on Financing the Global Commons for Pandemic Preparedness and Response.

In addition to her experience as a lecturer and advisor to several international organizations, she has been actively involved in key United Nations initiatives, such as the Millennium Project's Task Force on Poverty and Economic Development and the High-level Panel on Financing for Development.  

In 2014 and 2015, she was recognized as one of the 50 leading intellectuals of Latin America.  And she was recognized as one of the 100 most powerful women in Central America by Forbes magazine.

Ms Grynspan holds a degree in Economics by the University of Costa Rica and a MSc in Economics by the University of Sussex. She has been awarded a Doctorate Honoris Causa by the University of Salamanca, the University of Extremadura and the European University of Madrid in recognition of her outstanding professional achievements. 

His Excellency Azali Assoumani is a Comorian politician and military officer who has served as President of Comoros since April 2019. He was also president from 2002 to 2006 and from 2016 to February 2019. Between the years 1977 and 1980, Mr. Assoumani trained at the Royal Military Academy in Morocco and became a parachutist. He pursued a military career for two decades, completing further training at a French military academy in 1996, where he was promoted to colonel and chief of staff of the new National Development Army (NAD of Comoros). He retained this position until he became president of the Comoros Council of State in 1999.

His Excellency Andry Nirina Rajoelina is a Malagasy-French politician and businessman who has served as president of Madagascar since 2023. 

He previously served as president from 2019 to 2023 and was president of a provisional government from 2009 to 2014, having held the office of Mayor of Antananarivo for one year prior. 

Before entering the political arena, Rajoelina was involved in the private sector, including a printing and advertising company called Injet in 1999 and the Viva radio and television networks in 2007.

José Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmão is an East Timorese politician.  He has served as the 6th prime minister of East Timor since 2023, previously serving in that position from 2007 to 2015. 

He also served as East Timor's first president since its re-establishment of independence, from 2002 to 2007.

H.E Mr. Stephan Lars Andreas Brunner Neibig is a Costa Rican politician and economist who is the First Vice President of Costa Rica. He assumed office on 8 May 2022.

Mr. Brunner earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in cultural economics from the University of Kiel, a Master of Arts in economics from Indiana University Bloomington, and a PhD in economics from the University of Kiel.

General Haji Abubaker Jeje Odongo is currently the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uganda and represents Orungo Constituency in the National Parliament. 

Prior to this appointment, he was Minister of Internal Affairs from 2016-2021. He has held other cabinet portfolios including as Minister of State for Defence and Minister of State for Environment. In his other previous capacity, he served as Army Commander between 1998-2001 and held several other positions while in military service, including representing the Army in Parliament. 

Gen. Odongo holds MA in International Studies from Nairobi University, BA (Hon) in Education from Makerere University. He underwent military training and was commissioned from Monduli Academy in 1979. 

Other courses attended include Logistics command from Monterey- USA and National Defense College- Karen, Kenya.

H.E. Mr. Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim, was appointed as Chief Advisor for Foreign Policy to the President, Brazil On 5 January 2023. 

He is a Brazilian diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 20 July 1993 to 31 December 1994 and again from 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2010. He was Minister of Defence from 5 August 2011 to 31 December 2014. 

Before his appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amorim served as Brazil's ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). She is an economist and international development expert with over 30 years of experience.

She was Chair of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (2016 – 2020), the African Risk Capacity (2014 – 2020) and Co-Chair of The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. Previously, she served as Senior Advisor at Lazard and sat on the Boards of Standard Chartered PLC and Twitter Inc.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala was appointed as an AU COVID-19 Special Envoy and WHO COVID-19 Special Envoy. Dr Okonjo-Iweala served twice as Nigeria’s Finance Minister (2003-2006, 2011-2015), the first woman to hold the position, and spent a 25-year career at the World Bank rising to the No.2 position of Managing Director.

In 2020 Dr Okonjo-Iweala was named Forbes African of the Year. She has been ranked by Fortune as one of the 50 Greatest World Leaders (2015) and by Forbes as one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the World consecutively for four years. She holds a Bachelor’s in Economics from Harvard University and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.