Science for Industry, Industry for Peace
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| Kemal Dervis, Ph.D. is Vice President and Director of Global Economy and Development and Edward M. Bernstein Scholar at Brookings Institution and a member of Sabanci University’s International Board of Overseers. He also contributes to the Istanbul Policy Center of Sabanci University. Dr. Dervis served as the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Administrator from August 2005 through February 2009. He also chaired the United Nations Development Group, a committee consisting of the heads of all U.N. funds, programs and departments focused on development issues. At the United Nations, he focused extensively on development policy, economic interdependence, economic governance, climate change, post-conflict recovery, human rights and women’s empowerment. Prior to this appointment, he was a member of the Turkish Parliament representing Istanbul from November 2002 to June 2005. He also served as Minister for Economic Affairs and the Treasury for the Republic of Turkey from March 2001 to August 2002, when he led Turkey’s economic recovery program. Dr. Dervis joined the World Bank in 1977 after receiving his associate professorship at Princeton University. From 1977 to the mid-90’s, he worked in various positions including the directorship of the special aid program for Bosnia-Herzegovina and was appointed the Vice-President of the World Bank. Throughout his career, Dr. Dervis has actively engaged in the work of many international task forces and research institutes including the International Task Force on Global Public Goods and the Special Commission on the Balkans. While at the World Bank, he was in charge of the international program in support of Bosnia’s economic reconstruction in the immediate post-war period. He is a member of the Commission on Growth and Development, a World Bank-sponsored group which released a comprehensive report in May 2008, and of other groups working on global or regional development issues. He holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University, and Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Economics from the London School of Economics. He has published numerous academic and policy articles as well as several books on macroeconomics, international trade, planning and growth models, global management, income distribution, development economy and the European Union in Turkish, English, French and German. His latest book, A Better Globalization, was commissioned by the Center for Global Development and published by the Brookings Institution Press in 2005. Turkish American Scientists and Scholars Association (TASSA) is an independent, non-profit and non-political civil society organization established in June 2004 in Washington D.C. to build sustainable science and scholarship bridges between the United States of America and Turkey. TASSA’s mission is to facilitate the flow of scientists and scholars, knowledge and technology and to promote educational, scientific and technological cooperation between two countries through scientific exchange, educational programs and social and professional networking. The Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) is the most comprehensive umbrella organization representing the Turkish private sector established in 1952 by the Turkish Constitution. TOBB has a wide national chamber network, which consists of 365 local chambers of commerce, industry, commerce and industry, maritime commerce and commodity exchanges, representing 1.3 million small, medium sized and large companies operating within Turkey, from every sector of the economy. Over the years, TOBB has evolved into one of the most successful civil society organizations in Turkey, helping shape policy nationally and in the greater region by representing the unified voice and concerns of the Turkish business community. In 2005, TOBB launched its “Industry for Peace” initiative designed to develop relations with the businessmen in the region so that tangible solutions and concrete projects could be developed to improve the business environment in some of the most difficult parts of the region and thus help with the peace processes. The first such project was the Ankara Forum which brings together Israeli, Palestinian and Turkish businessmen, followed by the Istanbul Forum which brings together Pakistani, Afghan and Turkish businessmen. Worldbank – IMF Turkish Staff Association (WITSA) is a non-profit, non-political civil society organization established in February 2006 with the objective to create peer support, social and professional networking opportunities and information channels for World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s Turkish staff as well as other personnel interested in Turkey. WITSA’s purpose is to facilitate communication among its members, to contribute to their professional development by facilitating knowledge and experience exchange, and to promote Turkish culture within the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund by organizing, sponsoring or taking part in cultural events. |
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