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Kemal Dervis met with high school students during a visit to Albania in April 2006. © UNDP

The Administrator of UNDP, Kemal Dervis, has conveyed to the Secretary General his decision not to seek a second term and his wish to leave the position of Administrator on March 1, 2009. The Secretary General has accepted Mr. Dervis’s decision.  This decision is entirely due to personal and family reasons. 

Kemal Dervis is deeply grateful to the Secretary General and the Deputy Secretary General for their support. He also wants to express deep gratitude to his colleagues and all staff in UNDP as well as in the UN Development Group ( UNDG ) for their support and friendship since he took office in 2005. UNDP  programmes in support of the developing countries have grown substantially over the last four years and there has been solid progress in the “Delivering as One” agenda concerning the UN’s development work as a whole at the country level. UNDP  has been able to mobilize greater resources for development programmes and, last June, has obtained full Executive Board endorsement of a new Strategic Plan.

Kemal Dervis said, "I have no doubt that UNDP will go from strength to strength in serving the developing countries thanks to the trust it has earned worldwide and the remarkable skills and dedication of UNDP staff."