Carlos Alfredo Magariños

Carlos Alfredo Magariños
Director-General, UNIDO
In office
December 1997  December 2005
Preceded by Mauricio de Maria y Campos
Succeeded by Kandeh Yumkella
Personal details
Born (1962-08-16) 16 August 1962
Argentina
Spouse(s) María Belén Di Paolo
Occupation politician, economist, UN executive

Carlos Alfredo Magariños (born August 16, 1962[1]) is an Argentine politician and former UN official. He was designated by the President of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, Ambassador of the Argentinean Republic to the Federate Republic of Brasil in January 2016. The Honorable Senate of the Argentinean Nation lend its unanimous agreement in February of the same year.

Magariños earned a master's degree in Business Administration (1989) at the University of Buenos Aires. While studying was elected Academic Counselor by the Student Senate to represent it on the Board of the Faculty of Economic Sciences (FCE UBA), its superior governing body (period 1985-87).

He also studied at the International Development Law Institute (Rome, 1990) and specialized in Mergers and Acquisitions at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (1997). His academic records include positions as Assistant of Microeconomy (on Practical works, 1986) and Technical Coordinator in Research Methodology of Investigation (1987) at University of Buenos Aires; Assistant Professor of Foreign Trade Institutions (1989) at University of Belgrano, Argentina and Associate Professor for Argentine and Latin American Economic Issues (1989) as well as Full Professor of Political Economy (2009) at University of El Salvador, Argentina. Most recently Carlos Magariños was selected Senior Associated Member at St Antony's College, Oxford (2006) and Senior Fellow at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies (RDCY), Renmin University of China (2013).

Magariños was selected (through an open public process) as National Director for Foreign Trade (199192). He later became Under-Secretary of State for Industry (199293). During the first term of President Carlos Menem, he became State Secretary for Industry of Argentina (in 1993, when he was 31 years old). Towards the end of 1995 Magariños added responsibilities for Mining to his portfolio and, in mid-1996, was appointed Economic and Trade Representative of Argentina in Washington, D.C., with the rank of Ambassador and State Secretary.

A year later Magariños´ candidacy was submitted for the position of Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). He was recommended by the Industrial Development Board, with two thirds of the votes becoming the first Argentinean and the youngest person ever (at 35) to lead a UN Agency. Following due process, in December 1997, UNIDO's General Conference elected him as Director-General of the Organization,[2] which was undergoing a severe financial crisis at the time.

At the helm of UNIDO he implemented an ambitious reform program to improved efficiency and transparency at the Organization and to update its technical cooperation program, modernizing the concept of industrial development and linking it with the fight against poverty and environmental degradation. Initial success of his reform efforts led Magariños to be elected for a second term, 2001-2005.[3]

During his second term these set of reforms boosted the confidence of the Member Status in the Organization and UNIDO increased the volume of its technical cooperation portfolio for developing countries by 50% between 2000 and 2005. Voluntary contributions from donor countries also increased by 147% between 1998 and 2005 and renew confidence in the organization brought new Member States. The merits of UNIDO´s reform were debated at the House of Commons in the UK Parliament [4] and the Department for International Development (DFID) ranked UNIDO highest among standard-setting agencies in its 2005 Multilateral Effectiveness Framework.

Upon his return to Buenos Aires, Argentina, Magariños became Board Member at several institutions, including the Bank of the Province of Buenos Aires. He founded a group of companies (Foresight 2020 and Global Business Development Network in 2007 and 2010) dedicated to the promotion of investments in biotechnology, renewable energies, carbon markets, informatics, telecommunications and agri-business.[5]

Until his appointment as Argentinean Ambassador to Brazil, Magariños sat on several boards of institutions and organizations in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America, including University San Ignacio of Loyola, the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), the Global Alliance of SMEs and Circulo of Montevideo.

His interest in understanding the challenges confronting developing and emerging societies in a globalized economy led him to design and manage various research works. The results obtained were presented in several articles and writings, among which his 7 books published in Spanish, English and French, could be highlighted as well as his numerous conferences and presentations internationally.[6]

Magariños’ won more than 30 international awards in Europe, Asia and America for his performance as national leader, particularly in international affairs, including 5 titles Honoris Cause and several decorations and recognitions from governments and public entities.[7]

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