Leonel Fernández Will Be Part of the Leadership Council of a UN Agency

The former President of the Dominican Republic and President of Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD), Leonel Fernández, has been invited to join the Leadership Council overseeing the work of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), an initiative designed by the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) to assist in solving global problems.

The invitation to the former Dominican Head of State was issued on January 7, by the
Director of the network, leading US economist Jeffrey Sachs, who is also Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on anti-poverty measures known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The Leadership Council of the SDSN Network brings together renowned individuals, such as Ted Turner, founder of CNN; Carl-Henric Svanberg, Chairman of British Petroleum, and Prince Albert II of Monaco.

The
Council, of which the Dominican political leader will be part, meets twice a year to oversee the work of the SDSN and to promote innovative initiatives with a view to achieving sustainable global development.

The SDSN was launched by the UN in 2012 to mobilize leaders from academia, the business world and international organizations, to promote practical solutions to the challenges confronting sustainable development. Indeed, the network has played a key role in the
global consultative processes that produced the basic document for discussions on the new UN Agenda Post-2015.

This initiative is part of the work that has taken place as a result of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), which was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June of 2012. The network works in collaboration with the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

It should be noted that former President
Fernández is a distinguished member of several international councils and organizations, among which the following stand out: the Montevideo Circle, the Carter Center, Inter-American Dialogue, the Club of Madrid, the United States–Caribbean Executives Club of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the United Nations Association of the Dominican Republic. In addition, he is the Vice President of the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of
States (ACP Group).