Mr. Nikhil Seth

Member of the GSF Foundation Board

Former UN Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) and Former Executive Director (ED) of UNITAR

Mr. Nikhil Seth is a former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and served as Executive Director of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) during ten years. He was appointed to this role by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and led UNITAR’s work in strengthening the capacity of individuals, institutions, and governments to advance sustainable development and multilateral cooperation.

Prior to his appointment at UNITAR, Mr. Seth was Director of the Division for Sustainable Development in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) in New York. In this capacity, he served as Head of the Secretariat for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) and the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States, overseeing preparations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Apia, Samoa, and coordinating their follow-up processes. His Division also supported the intergovernmental negotiations for the post-2015 development agenda, adopted at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015.

Mr. Seth has had a distinguished career with the United Nations since 1993. He has served as Special Assistant and Chief of Office to the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs (1993–2001), Chief of the Policy Coordination Branch in the Division for ECOSOC Support and Coordination (2001–2003), Secretary of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the Second Committee of the General Assembly (2003–2006), and Director of the DESA Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination (2006–2011). In these roles, he guided ECOSOC’s work on key mandates, including the Annual Ministerial Review and the Development Cooperation Forum.

Before joining the UN Secretariat, Mr. Seth served as a diplomat with the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations (1990–1993), where he was involved in major UN conferences and summits, including the Rio Earth Summit on Environment and Development and early climate-related negotiations. After joining the UN, he continued to play a central role in organizing and supporting landmark global processes, including the Copenhagen World Summit for Social Development, the Monterrey Conference on Financing for Development, the Millennium Summit, the World Summit on Sustainable Development, and the UN World Summit, in addition to Rio+20.

Mr. Seth joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1980, with diplomatic postings in Geneva, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea. Earlier in his career, he was a Lecturer in Economics at St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi (1977–1979).

Mr. Nikhil Seth holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Delhi and continues to be engaged in international development, multilateral cooperation, and global policy initiatives.

Mr. Seth was appointed to the Foundation Board of The Global Surgery Foundation (GSF) in January 2026.