Dr. Tesfachew Taffere

Taffere Tesfachew, PhD is currently the Acting Managing Director of the United Nations
Technology Bank for the Least developed Countries. Until December 2021, he was a Senior
Advisor at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI). Prior to joining the TBI, he was a
staff member of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) for
nearly twenty-eight years working in different capacities, including Chief of Staff,
Spokesperson and Director of the Division on Africa and Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
He is a member of the UN Committee for Development Policy (UN-CDP) and The African
Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Industrial Development Advisory Council.
Tesfachew is an economist and holds an MA degree in Economics from the University of
Lancaster, UK, and an MPhil and a PhD from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS),
University of Sussex, UK. He has published on a range of topics, including: “Technological
Learning and Industrialization in Ethiopia”; “The role of policy in promoting enterprise
learning during early industrialization”; “The Journey of Ethiopian Airlines: Technological
Learning and Industrialization in Ethiopia”; “Industrial Parks in Ethiopia: Newcomer
advantages”; “Learning to catch-up in Africa”; “Special Economic Zones and export-led
growth: an industrial policy imperative”, among others.
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