Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appointed veteran Indian diplomat and international administrator Nikhil Seth to head the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

An expert on international development, Seth will be the executive director of the UN’s training arm, which is headquartered in Geneva, Ban’s spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.

Seth is currently the director of the UN’s Division for Sustainable Development. Previously, he headed the Office of the Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.

As an Indian Foreign Service officer he had served at the Indian UN Mission, and in Geneva and Demcratic Republic of Congo.