26 November 2014: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the establishment of a High-Level Panel to advise on organizational and operational functions of a proposed ‘Technology Bank and Science, Technology and Innovation Supporting Mechanism’ dedicated to Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The Secretary-General was requested to establish such a Panel by the 68th UN General Assembly (UNGA).

Romain Murenzi, Rwanda, Executive Director of the World Academy of Science and Rwanda’s former Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Scientific Research, will chair the panel.

Other panel members include: Mohamed Hassan, Sudan; Bruce Lehman, US; Tebello Nyokong, South Africa; Dorte Olesen, Denmark; Posh Raj Pandey, Nepal; Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis, Haiti; Firdausi Qadri, Bangladesh; Fang Xin, China; and Hakan Karatas, Turkey. Gyan Chandra Acharya, UN Under Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (OHRLLS), will serve ex-officio.

The panel is tasked with providing practical recommendations on the scope and functions of the proposed technology bank, with the aim of accelerating poverty eradication, sustainable development and structural transformation in LDCs.

The panel will hold its first meeting in February 2015, and is expected to submit a report to the UN Secretary-General later in 2015. [UN Press Release] [UN Secretary-General Note to Correspondents] [UNESCO Press Release on Murenzi Appointment]