K.Y. Amoako is the sixth Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). He has led the organisation, the regional arm of the United Nations in Africa, at the rank of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations since 1995.

Mr. Amoako's priorities as Executive Secretary have been to initiate and manage a process of wide-ranging reforms aimed at making the Commission a more rigorous centre of excellence that is better equipped to deliver high-quality services and products to meet the complex needs of Africa's governments and people. Under his leadership, the organization has revamped its research and advocacy work to ensure it is policy relevant and at the cutting edge of Africa's development agenda. Its activities are now focused on the following priorities:

• Tracking performance, identifying best practices, and facilitating peer learning among African countries in key areas including, macroeconomic and growth policies, poverty reduction, gender policies and governance;

• Enhancing African regional economic integration and increasing the continent's participation in, and benefits from, global trade;

• Supporting the growth of an information society on the continent through the harnessing of information and communication technologies (ICTs);

• Promoting the application of scientific and technological innovation to food security and sustainable development;

• Assessing the impact of HIV/AIDS on key areas of governance and economic development and assisting African policy makers to devise effective policies to deal with the pandemic; and

• Promoting a transformed partnership between Africa and its international development partners that is based on African ownership and responsibilities, as well as donor aid effectiveness and policy coherence.

Prior to ECA, Mr. Amoako worked in the World Bank for two decades, latterly in senior positions including: Director of the Education and Social Policy Department with responsibility for providing strategic leadership for the Bank's programmes on poverty reduction, education, gender, labour markets and social protection (1993-1995).

Mr. Amoako is Chair of the Commission for HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa (CHGA), convened by UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan and a member of the Commission for Africa established by Prime Minister Tony Blair. He is also a member of the Taskforce on Global Public Goods. Mr. Amoako is a board member of the Development Gateway Foundation and Chair of its Editorial Committee. He is also a member of the Global Information and Infrastructure Commission (GIIC) and serves on the World Bank Institute's (WBI) Advisory Council. He recently served as a member of the Commission on Capital Flows to Africa and on the World Health Organization's high-level Commission on Macroeconomics and Health (CMH).

K.Y. Amoako received his B.A. (Hons) with a concentration in Economics from the University of Ghana in Legon and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley. In 2003, the Addis Ababa University at an event organized to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) awarded him a Doctor of Laws degree, honoris causa.

Among Mr. Amoako's principal publications is 'Balance of Payments Problems and Exchange Rate Policy: The Ghanaian Experience' (1974). 'Perspectives on Africa's Development' (2000) contains the texts of 40 major speeches he has delivered on the region's challenges since 1996. In addition, he supervised the preparation of major World Bank reports and policy papers including: 'Higher Education: The Lessons of Experience' (1993); 'Enhancing Women's Participation in Economic Development' (1994); and 'Advancing Social Development: A Contribution to the Social Summit' (1995).

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Visit Mr. Amoako's Blog at http://amoako.typepad.com.