Sithu U Nyun ( my, ဦးညွန့်; also spelt U Nyunt; 20 January 1910 – 4 April 1996) was a Burmese

development economist Development economics is a branch of economics which deals with economic aspects of the development process in low- and middle- income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic development, economic growth and structural ...

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

and

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...

who served as the 3rd

Executive Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

as the head of

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) is one of the five regional commissions under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It was established in order to increase economic ...

Early life

U Nyun was born on 20 January 1910 in Hpa-An,

British Burma British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. He attended Basic Education High School No. 1 Thaton and graduated from

Rangoon University '') , mottoeng = There's no friend like wisdom. , established = , type = Public , rector = Dr. Tin Mg Tun , undergrad = 4194 , postgrad = 5748 , city = Kamayut 11041, Yangon , state = Yangon Regio ...

in 1930, and also educated at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. He joined the Indian Civil Service on 4 October 1933.

United Nations career

U Nyun served in the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million ...

(ICS) and then as a senior civil servant in the independent Burma government, before joining the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

in 1953. From 1959 to 1973, he was the Under-Secretary General of the United Nations as the head of

(ESCAP), working directly under Secretaries-General

Dag Hammarskjöld Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld ( , ; 29 July 1905 – 18 September 1961) was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 196 ...

and

U Thant Thant (; ; January 22, 1909 – November 25, 1974), known honorifically as U Thant (), was a Burmese diplomat and the third secretary-general of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971, the first non-Scandinavian to hold the position. He held t ...

. U Nyunt served as the

and established the Mekong Development Project,

Asian Highway Network The Asian Highway Network (AH), also known as the Great Asian Highway, is a cooperative project among countries in Asia and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) to improve their connectivity via hig ...

Asian Statistical Institute
Asian Industrial Development Council,

Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bank also maintains 31 field office ...

Asian Clearing Union The Asian Clearing Union (ACU) was established on December 9, 1974, at the initiative of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The primary objective of ACU, at the time of its establishment, was to se ...

. In 1966, he founded the

, and was recognized as ''The Father of Asian Development Bank''. In 1973, he retired from the United Nations as the head of

. U Nyun was one of many trained and experienced Burmese Indian Civil Service and Burmese Civil Service officers at the time of independence. U Nyun Magazine cover

Personal life and death

U Nyun married Than Tin in 1935. He died on 8 April 1996 in

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

. He is survived by his four sons and one daughter– Aung Nyun, Than Nyun, Myo Nyun, Hla Nyun and Marie Nyun.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nyun, U University of Yangon alumni 20th-century Burmese businesspeople People from Kayin State 1910 births 1996 deaths Burmese economists Burmese diplomats Alumni of the University of Oxford Alumni of the University of London Under-Secretaries-General of the United Nations Burmese officials of the United Nations Indian Civil Service (British India) officers