Kundhavi Kadiresan, who holds a PhD in Economics and an MA in International Business, is Assistant Director-General and FAO’s Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific. She has more than 25 years of managerial experience in economic and policy development. Kadiresan, an economist, has spent most of her professional career with the World Bank Group. She has worked in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America, where she led senior-level policy dialogues and managed large loan portfolios. As FAO’s Assistant-Director General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, she advocates FAO’s policies throughout the region, supports coordination and monitoring of knowledge and information exchange and development of regional norms and standards, which includes joint UN approaches on policy and regulatory frameworks, collaborative capacity development relating to SDGs and Climate Change.