PHNOM PENH, 06 September 2022 – The United Nations (UN) Assistant Secretary-General and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Director Ms. Kanni Wignaraja will visit Cambodia on official mission from 8-12 September 2022.

During her week-long mission, Ms. Wignaraja will meet with senior government officials, private sector, and civil society representatives to discuss UNDP's work and contribution to the country's development priorities and the acceleration of the Cambodia Sustainable Development Goals. She will also lead two high-level policy dialogues on Advancing Cambodia's Climate Agenda: Carbon Neutrality, Energy Resilience, and Financing for Sustainable Development, and on Inclusive Development Models in Cambodia: Poverty Reduction, Social Protection and Resilience on 9 and 12 September, respectively. 

Ms. Wignaraja’s programme also includes field visits to Battambang Province with the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) to observe mine clearance and mine risk education projects and interact with local communities living on or near cleared land. She will also visit Kampong Thom Province to observe climate adaptation and solar energy solutions for sustainable rural livelihoods and value chain development. 

UNDP has been supporting Cambodia’s development since 1958 and has had a resident presence in the country since 1994. UNDP works with the Royal Government of Cambodia, the civil society, and the private sector to strengthen inclusive, green and resilient growth, and to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, leaving no one behind.  

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NOTE TO EDITORS

About Ms. Kanni Wignaraja 

UN Assistant Secretary-General, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific. 

Ms. Kanni Wignaraja began her role as UNDP’s Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific on 18 November 2019. Previously, Ms. Wignaraja served as the Acting Assistant Administrator and Director of UNDP’s Bureau of Management Services and as Special Adviser to the UNDP Administrator, roles that she performed throughout 2019 after working as the Director of the UN Development Operations Coordination Office from 2014 to 2018.

Ms. Wignaraja has more than 25 years of experience with the United Nations work on sustainable development and possesses a deep knowledge of the Asia-Pacific region as well as the global, regional and country-level workings of UNDP, across policy, programme, management and operations.

Prior to joining the UN, Ms. Wignaraja worked with the Ford Foundation in New York. She has contributed to numerous papers, articles and conferences in areas of public policy, institutional reform, capacity development, human rights and leadership. Ms. Wignaraja holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration (Development Economics) from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Bryn Mawr College.

For more information, please contact: Im Samruol, UNDP Head of Communication at samruol.im@undp.org