Mr.
Lennart Båge from Sweden was elected President of the International
Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on February 2001 by the Fund's Governing
Council and was re-elected for a second four year term in February
2005. Mr. Lennart Båge joined IFAD with nearly 25 years of experience
in international development, and longstanding and active involvement
in the United Nations system and multilateral finance institutions.
Prior to IFAD, he served as Head of the Department for International
Development Co-operation in Sweden's Ministry for Foreign Affairs in
charge of Budget and Policy Development for Sweden's USD 1.6 billion
International Cooperation Program as well as responsibility for EU
Affairs and international financial institutions. Mr. Båge, who has
rank of Ambassador in the Foreign Ministry, has also served as Sweden's
Deputy for the International Development Association (IDA), Vice-Chairman
of the DAC/OECD and Sweden's Alternate Governor for the Asian, African
and Inter-American Development Banks and Vice-Chairman of the Board
of Governors of the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF). In 2006, Mr Båge was appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General as a member of the High-level Panel on System-wide Coherence. In
December 2002, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Kofi
Annan, designated Mr. Båge as chairman of the High-Level Committee
on Programmes (HLCP).
Throughout his career, Mr. Båge has focused on a variety
of issues central to IFAD's mission for poverty reduction, rural development,
economic and social reform, capacity building, environmental management,
and gender. Mr. Båge has long been involved in the activities of IFAD
having served as Chairman of
the Governing Council of IFAD and Co-Chairman of the High Level
Special Committee on IFAD's Resource Requirements and Related Governance
Issues.
Mr. Båge is the fourth president of IFAD. He is married
with two children, and holds an MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics.
