As the newly appointed Distinguished Fellow at the Asia headquarters of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), hosted by the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation (JCF) at Sunway University,
Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed (pic) will lead and conduct activities that accelerate the achievement of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Malaysia.His appointment, which took effect on April 1, will strengthen the SDSN-Asia middle income trap, sustainable development education and Asean green future projects, a press release read.
The former Jeli Member of Parliament was the minister in charge of the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) under three former prime ministers.
As a minister, he helmed a diverse portfolio, namely, international trade and industry, higher education, agriculture and agro-based industry, finance, and entrepreneur development.
He was also Talent Corporation chairman responsible for formulating and implementing strategies to transform Malaysia into a knowledge-driven economy.
In addition, he was chairman of Teraju, an agency charged with increasing the economic participation of the Bumiputera community, as well as the National Economic Action Council executive director.
Mustapa, who holds a BA in Economics with first-class honours from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and a Masters in Development Economics from Boston University, United States, was awarded an honorary doctorate in commerce by the University of Melbourne in 1997.
In line with his experience, he is focused on the elimination of poverty, provision of quality education, restoration of economic dynamism, and early achievement of net zero emissions of greenhouse gases.
With a global membership of 1,700 research organisations, the SDSN is an international non-governmental organisation established in 2012 under the auspices of then UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon.
Since 2016, the JCF has provided grants of some US$20mil (RM89.19mil) to support the SDSN’s work in sustainable development.
