A former Turkish economics minister and World Bank official on Tuesday became head of the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), which manages 4 billion dollars in annual aid to meet development goals in 166 countries, dpa reported. Kerman Dervis, 56, told a news conference at U.N. headquarters that the new post represents a "huge challenge". "Running the organization at the forefront of the U.N.'s poverty eradication and democratic governance efforts in today's complex world is a challenge and a singular opportunity," he said. Dervis spent 22 years at the World Bank as vice president for Middle East and North Africa before returning home to be elected a member of the Turkish parliament and minister of economic affairs and the treasury from 2001 to 2002. He replaced Mark Malloch Brown, who headed UNDP for six years and is now U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's chief of staff.
