RCP: Arab States

Ms. Amina J. Mohammed is the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group.

Prior to her appointment, Ms. Mohammed served as Minister of Environment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria where she steered the country’s efforts on climate action and efforts to protect the natural environment.

Ms. Mohammed first joined the United Nations in 2012 as Special Adviser to former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with the responsibility for post-2015 development planning. She led the process that resulted in global agreement around the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the creation of the Sustainable Development Goals.  

Ms. Mohammed began her career working on the design of schools and hospitals in Nigeria. She served as an advocate focused on increasing access to education and other social services, before moving into the public sector, where she rose to the position of adviser to four successive Presidents on poverty, public sector reform, and sustainable development.

Ms. Mohammed has been conferred several honorary doctorates and has served as an adjunct professor, lecturing on international development. The recipient of various global awards, Ms. Mohammed has served on numerous international advisory boards and panels. She is the mother of six children and has four grandchildren.

Ms. Dashti is a leading Kuwaiti economist and long-time champion of women’s rights, gender equality and democratic reform. She served as member of the Supreme Planning Council in Kuwait. From 2012 to 2014, she was Minister for Planning and Development and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs. Ms. Dashti played a pivotal role in advocating for a decree to allow Kuwaiti women to vote and run for parliamentary elections. In May 2009, she and three others became the first women to be elected to the Kuwait parliament.

She has held key positions in research and development institutions, such as the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, and has worked for major national and international financial and development institutions, such as the National Bank of Kuwait and the World Bank. She also managed contracts for the Kuwaiti Emergency and Reconstruction Program during the invasion to post liberation period.

She is a regular contributor to regional and international policy forums on global governance, economic development and integration, democratization, and women’s empowerment in the MENA region.

Ms. Dashti holds a doctorate degree in population dynamics from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, a master’s degree in economics and finance from California State University in Sacramento, and a bachelor of science in agriculture economics from California State University in Chico. She speaks Arabic and English fluently.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on 14th March 2023, the appointment of Abdallah Al Dardari of Syria as Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator and Director, Regional Bureau for Arab States of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).  He succeeds Khalida Bouzar of Algeria, who retired after working over three decades in various United Nations agencies and to whom the Secretary-General extends his deepest appreciation for her dedicated years of service.

Prior to this, Mr. Al Dardari served as UNDP Resident Representative in Afghanistan, a post that he has held since 2019, when joining from the World Bank, where he was a Senior Adviser.

He started his professional career in 1986 as an international affairs writer and bureau chief of the pan - Arab newspaper “Al Hayat” and then became the Economist at the London Office of the Arab League.  From 1994 to 1997, he served as Programme Officer in UNDP Syria country office and then joined the Arab Trade Financing Programme/Arab Monetary Fund group as Chief of the Trade Promotion section.  He was appointed in 2003 as Chairman of the State Planning Commission in Syria, a function he held until 2005, when he became Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs.  He further served as Chief Economist with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia in 2011 and later, Deputy Executive Secretary, where he led the efforts for understanding conflict dynamics in the Arab region.

Mr. Al Dardari holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Richmond College in London, UK, a Master's in International Relations from the University of Southern California, US, and an interdisciplinary PhD in post-conflict reconstruction from Università Iuav di Venezia, Italy.  He also studied international relations at the London School of Economics, UK.  He is fluent in Arabic, English and French, with an understanding of Russian and Turkish.