The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has designated Under-Secretary-General Haoliang Xu as Acting Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), effective 17 June 2025.
Mr. Xu, who was appointed UNDP Associate Administrator in June 2023, will lead the UN Development Programme until the onboarding of the next Administrator, following the departure of Achim Steiner after his eight-year tenure.
Mr. Xu served as UN Assistant Secretary-General, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director of the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS), and between 2013 and 2019, he was UN Assistant Secretary-General, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific.
With three decades of experience at UNDP, Mr. Xu has an unyielding commitment to human development and rich experience in international development cooperation across multiple regions. Since joining UNDP in 1994, he has fulfilled various roles within the organization, working in field assignments in Iran, Timor-Leste, Pakistan and Kazakhstan and in headquarters covering Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States and Asia-Pacific.
Prior to joining the United Nations, Mr. Xu worked in the fields of civil engineering in China and the United States. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Bridge Engineering from Tongji University, a Master's degree in Management Science from the Stevens Institute of Technology, and a Master's degree in International Affairs from Columbia University. He is married and has one child.
