Carlos Alfredo Magariños


Carlos Alfredo Magariños is an Argentine politician, diplomat, academician and entrepreneur. He was twice elected Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization by the international community.
Prior to that he was National Director for Foreign Trade, Under-Secretary for Industry and Secretary for Industry of Argentina. He was also Economic and Trade Representative of Argentina in Washington D.C.
After his two terms at the helm of UNIDO he return to the academia and to the private sector, founding his own companies, dedicated to facilitate business development and financial market access for industrial projects and companies.
Upon taken office in December 2015, the President of the Republic of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, appointed him Ambassador of Argentina to the Federate Republic of Brasil. The Honorable Senate of the Argentinean Nation lent its unanimous agreement in February of the following year.
He return to Argentina in July 2019 to continue his career in the private sector.

Biography

Magariños earned a master's degree in Business Administration at the University of Buenos Aires. While studying was elected Academic Counselor by the Student Senate to represent it on the Board of the Faculty of Economic Sciences, its governing body.
He also studied at the International Development Law Institute and specialized in Mergers and Acquisitions at Wharton Business School. His academic records includes positions as Assistant of Microeconomy and Technical Coordinator in Research Methodology in Social Science at University of Buenos Aires; Assistant Professor of Foreign Trade Institutions at University of Belgrano, Argentina and Associate Professor for Argentine and Latin American Economic Issues as well as Full Professor of Political Economy at University of El Salvador, Argentina. Most recently Carlos Magariños was selected Senior Associated Member at St Antony's College, Oxford and Senior Fellow at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China.
Magariños was selected National Director for Foreign Trade in 1991. He later became Under-Secretary of State for Industry. During the first term of President Carlos Menem, he became State Secretary for Industry of Argentina. Towards the end of 1995 Magariños added responsibilities for Mining to his portfolio and, in mid-1996, was appointed Economic and Trade Representative of Argentina in Washington, D.C., with the rank of Ambassador and State Secretary.
A year later Magariños´ candidacy was submitted for the position of Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. He was recommended by the Industrial Development Board, with two-thirds of the votes becoming the first Argentinean and the youngest person ever to lead a UN Agency. Following due process, in December 1997, UNIDO's General Conference elected him as Director-General of the Organization, which was undergoing a severe financial crisis at the time.
At the helm of UNIDO he implemented an ambitious reform program to improved efficiency and transparency at the Organization and to update its technical cooperation program, modernizing the concept of industrial development and linking it with the fight against poverty and environmental degradation. Initial success of his reform efforts led Magariños to be elected for a second term, 2001-2005. These set of reforms boosted the confidence of the Member Status in the Organization and UNIDO increased the volume of its technical cooperation portfolio for developing countries by 50% between 2000 and 2005. Voluntary contributions from donor countries also increased by 147% between 1998 and 2005 and renew confidence in the organization brought new Member States. The merits of UNIDO´s reform were debated at the House of Commons, in the UK Parliament. The Department for International Development ranked UNIDO highest among standard-setting agencies in its 2005 Multilateral Effectiveness Framework.
Over those years, under Magariños leadership, UNIDO developed a cooperation framework with the private sector through multinational companies. He pioneered the designed of dedicated programs for post-conflict situations. UNIDO post-conflict programs for Afghanistan, Irak, Sudan and East Timor, for example, were developed in those years. Magariños also promoted trade capacity building programs, an area where UNIDO would excell, and pay special attention to the effects of China accession to the World Trade Organization.
Upon his return to Buenos Aires, Argentina, Magariños founded with his wife, Belen Di Paolo, a group of companies dedicated to the promotion of investments in biotechnology, renewable energies, carbon markets, informatics, telecommunications and agri-business. He sat on several boards of institutions and organizations in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America, including University San Ignacio of Loyola, the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, the Global Alliance of SMEs, the Bank of the Province of Buenos Aires, the oldest bank of Argentina, and Circulo of Montevideo.
His interest in understanding the challenges confronting developing and emerging societies in a globalized economy led him to design and manage various research projects. The results obtained were presented in several articles and writings, among which his 8 books published could be highlighted, as well as his numerous conferences and presentations around the world.
Magariños’ won 38 international awards in Europe, Asia and America for his performance as national leader, particularly in international affairs, including 5 titles Honoris Cause and several decorations and recognitions from governments and public entities.
He was always concerned about his country's progress, being active in public debates by publishing books and articles regularly in local media. He became Ambassador of Argentina to Brazil shortly after Mauricio Macri took office as President of Argentina, returning to public service 20 years after he left office at National Government. A combination of personal and professional engagements drove him back to Argentina in July 2019, to continue his career at the private sector. With his wife, Belen Di Paolo, currently leads Global Foresight, a company designed to anticipate business trends

Books