Having began in 1993, Nikhil Seth’s career with the United Nations involved a number of positions, responsibilities and of course, achievements. 

For instance, he served as Director of the Division for Sustainable Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) at the United Nations Secretariat in New York — a division that was responsible for “supporting the intergovernmental negotiations for the post-2015 development agenda.”

Also as part of this position, Nikhil served as head of the Rio+20 secretariat, as well as of the secretariat for the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States, and had played a central role in guiding the organization toward implementing several essential new mandates.

Since assuming his current post as UN Assistant Secretary-General, Executive Director of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), a post he assumed in 2015, Nikhil has been leading the institute on the path to fulfilling its mission to “provide innovative learning solutions to individuals, organizations and institutions to enhance global decision-making and support country-level action for shaping a better future.” 

Nikhil and I recently sat down to discuss UNITAR and its contributions to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Below are his thoughts.