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My Career |
On 20th
February 2006 an article in Asian Tribune said “If [the next
Secretary-General] has to be an Asian, then, what considerations
will determine which one? Given that neither of the front-runners is
exactly a sure thing, the possibility of an outsider emerging ahead
of the favourites is real. One outsider who might do so is Nirj Deva
(full name, Niranjan Deva-Aditya). He has the advantage of being a
Sri Lankan citizen without being a U.N. insider. He has quietly
assembled international support in several continents on the premise
that if their ''favourite son'' candidates falter, they will
transfer to him.”
Deva is the first person in history to be born in one continent
(Asia), to be elected to parliament in another continent (UK) and
then elected to represent that country as a member of a
multi-national Parliament (the European Parliament). He was born in
1948 in Sri Lanka to a Catholic family of Rajasthani descent and has
been awarded the title of “Vishwa Keerthi Sri Lanka Abhimani,” by
the Buddhist clergy in recognition of his services to Sri Lanka. He
speaks Sinhalese and English, and is married to Indra - a
French-speaking Mauritian, and has one son. He is very much a
citizen of the modern world.
On 18th February 2006 Nirj Deva addressed 2 million people from 146
countries at Bangalore, India.
He was endowed from birth with the legacy of the ancient
civilisations of the East, and was influenced in later life by one
of the great civilisations of the West.
He became Chairman in 1981 of the Bow Group (a leading British
political think-tank), and initiated the Transatlantic Conferences
between the Conservative Party (Bow Group) and the Republican
Party/Heritage Foundation, in Washington in 1981. He was a Member of
the Council of the Royal Commonwealth Society 1976-80. He was
Chairman of the UK Department of Transport/National Consumer Council
Committee on de-regulation of Air-Transport whose Report, published
by the UK Government in March 1986 resulted in the low-fare airlines
of Europe, which have brought affordable travel to millions.
In the European Parliament he has focussed on overseas Development,
where he serves as coordinator for the majority EPP-ED party on the
Development Committee. In 2005 he was the author of the Committee’s
Report on the European Union’s multi-billion dollar Development
Budget. He is the author of Legislative Reports in the European
Parliament (1999-2006) on: Effective development cooperation and the
fight against corruption; lending activities in developing
countries; assessment of the WTO Doha round; transfer of
decommissioned EU fishing vessels to tsunami stricken region;
Generalised System of Preferences (GSP); SMEs in developing
countries; Economic Partnership Agreements; Neglected Diseases and
Poverty; The Exploitation of children; Tourism and Development;
Untying of aid; Social aspect of globalisation; Human Rights
clauses; Rules of origin in preferential trade arrangements; Women &
Poverty; Pharma products/TRIPS; Stability Instrument; Partnership
Instrument; External & Internal Borders.
Through the EU Aid Budget he has funded road building, water and
sanitation projects in Asia, Poverty alleviation and women's
empowerment projects in Africa and was the first person in the
history of the Millennium Development Goals under the "Quick Win"
initiative to allocate specific funds for Quick Wins.
Some of his recent tasks include working for the effective
application of aid given to the areas devastated by the Tsunami. He
was actually in Sri Lanka when the Tsunami hit the coast in December
2004, and witnessed the devastation and human suffering it caused.
He immediately convened meetings in the European Parliament with
Ambassadors from all the affected countries, together with NGOs, the
World Bank, the European Investment Bank, and many others, to
improve aid delivery and support.
He is Chairman of the Europe-India Chamber of Commerce, and is Hon
Ambassador Without Portfolio for Sri Lanka. He is also Chairman of
the EU-Indonesia group, developing good relations with the largest
Moslem democracy in the world.
In April 2005 he led the European Parliament’s delegation to the UN
Commission on Sustainable Development in New York, and delivered a
paper on the future of the United Nations at the US Council on
Foreign Relations. In July 2005 he led the European Parliament’s
delegation to the UN High-level Conference on global aid funding. In
September 2005 he was Co-Chairman (with Michel Rocard, former Prime
Minister of France) of the European Parliaments' Delegation to the
World Summit at the United Nations 60th General Assembly.
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