Gert Rosenthal

Bio

Gert Rosenthal, is currently the Permanent Representative of Guatemala to the United Nations.  Mr. Rosenthal has been Guatemala’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations since December 1998. Prior to taking up that position, he served on the Follow-up Commission of the Guatemalan Peace Accords. From 1988 to 1997, he was Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). He joined that United Nations regional commission in 1974 as Director of its Mexico office, and in 1987 was appointed its Deputy Executive Secretary. Mr. Rosenthal held various positions in Guatemala’s national public administration since joining its Secretariat of Economic Planning in 1960. From 1969 to 1971, and again in 1973 through 1974 he was Minister of Planning. Between 1969 and 1970, he was the Secretary-General of his country's National Council for Economic Planning.  In 1971 he was a Fellow for the Adlai Stevenson Institute for International Affairs in Chicago. He holds a bachelors degree and a masters degree in economics from the University of California at Berkeley. From 1970 to 1974, he was Professor of Public Finance and Economic Development at the Universidad Rafael Landivar in Guatemala.

Academic Background

  • BA in Economics, University of California at Berkeley, USA

  • MA in Economics, University of California at Berkeley, USA

Areas of Expertise

  • Economic Development

Present Position

  • Permanent Representative of Guatemala to the United Nations

Previous Positions

  • 1959-1967 Private sector in Guatemala

  • 1960-1964 Economist of the National Planning Secretariat, Guatemala (half-time)

  • 1964 Representative of Guatemala on the Executive Council of the Central American Common Market

  • 1965 Chief, Economic Development Division, National Planning Secretariat, Guatemala

  • 1966-67 Officer in charge of external financing, Ministry of Finance, Guatemala (half-time)

  • 1968 Assistant to the Secretary-General, Secretariat of the Central American Common Market (SIECA)

  • 1969-1970 Secretary General (rank of Minister) of the National Planning Secretariat, Guatemala

  • 1971 Fellow, Adlai Stevenson Institute for International Affairs, Chicago, Illinois (On campus of University of Chicago)

  • 1972-1973 Project Director, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, based in Guatemala City, and designed to promote the Central American Common Market

  • 1973-1974 Secretary General (rank of Minister) of the National Planning Secretariat, Guatemala

  • 1974-1985 Director, Sub-regional Office in Mexico of the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (jurisdiction over Mexico, Central America, Panama, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Haiti, with a staff of approximately 80 persons)

  • 1985-1987 Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, based in Santiago, Chile

  • 1988-1997 Executive Secretary of the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (with rank of Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, supervising a staff of over 700 persons)

  • 1988 Member of the Oversight Commission of the Guatemalan Peace Accords

  • 1999 Permanent Representative of Guatemala to the United Nations

Other Activities and Memberships

  • Broadcaster on South American political and economic affairs as well as writing on relations between Latin America and the European Union

Publications

Around 120 publications on various development issues. Some of the most recent publications:

  • The role of the United Nations in financing development: an institutional approach. (2001)
  • Los años ochenta y noventa. (2000)
  • Los procesos de integración regional y las políticas sociales. (1999)
  • Discurso del Sr. Gert Rosenthal en la primera sesión plenaria del Taller sobre los Procesos de Integración en las Américas de la Conferencia Parlamentaria de las Américas (Síntesis). (1998)
  • Los desafíos de la globalización para Centroamérica. (1998)
  • Pensamiento y políticas sobre el desarrollo en América Latina y el Caribe: pasado y futuro. (1998)
  • Comentario sobre el trabajo de Gert Rosenthal: "Pensamiento y políticas sobre el desarrollo en América Latina y el Caribe: pasado y futuro". (1998)
  • Comentario a la exposición de José Antonio Ocampo sobre los desafíos de la transformación productiva con equidad. (1998)
  • Los procesos de integración regional y las políticas sociales. (1997)
  • Reflexiones sobre la integración hemisférica. (1997)
  • Tendencias del desarrollo de América Latina. (1997)
  • Lo que más me impresiona de América Latina es que no haya más "caracazos". (1997)
  • Development thinking and policies in Latin America and the Caribbean: past and future. (1997)
  • Discurso inaugural del Secretario Ejecutivo de la CEPAL. (1997)
  • América Latina y la evolución de las ideas y las políticas para el desarrollo. (1997)
  • Social development in Latin America and the Caribbean. (1997)
  • Some thoughts on equitable development. (1997)
  • Aníbal Pinto Santa Cruz. (1996)
  • El momento económico de América Latina. (1996)
  • On poverty and inequality in Latin America. (1996)
Current Research Projects
Recommended Links

Areas of Interest