{{Short description|British civil servant (born 1959)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} {{Use British English|date=February 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Sir Suma Chakrabarti | honorific_suffix = KCB | image = SirSuma.jpg | caption = | office = President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development | term_start = 3 July 2012 | term_end = July 2020 | predecessor = Thomas Mirow | successor = Jürgen Rigterink (Acting) | office1 = Clerk of the Crown in Chancery <br /> Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Justice | term_start1 = December 2007 | term_end1 = 2012 | prime_minister1 = Gordon Brown<br />David Cameron | minister1 = Jack Straw<br />Ken Clarke | predecessor1 = Alex Allan | successor1 = Ursula Brennan | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1959}} | birth_place = Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, India | spouse = | alma_mater = University of Oxford | color = }} '''Sir Sumantra "Suma" Chakrabarti''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|KCB}} (born 1959) is a British former civil servant who served as president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) from July 2012 to July 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ebrd.com/news/2012/ebrd-shareholders-elect-uks-sir-suma-chakrabarti-as-next-president.html|title=EBRD Shareholders elect UK's Sir Suma Chakrabarti as next President}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ebrd.com/news/2016/ebrd-governors-elect-sir-suma-chakrabarti-president-for-four-more-years.html|title = EBRD Governors elect Sir Suma Chakrabarti President for four more years}}</ref> He was previously the highest ranking Indian in Britain's civil service,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/the-new-tournament/cid/889565|title=THE NEW TOURNAMENT|website=The Telegraph|location=Kolkata|access-date=2 December 2018}}</ref> serving as Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Justice and Clerk of the Crown in Chancery from late 2007<ref>{{cite journal|title=Warrants Under the Royal Sign Manual|journal=The London Gazette|date=21 December 2007|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/58550|accessdate=16 February 2021|publisher=HM Government|quote=The Queen has been pleased by Royal Warrant bearing date 10 December 2007, to appoint Sir Sumantra Chakrabarti K.C.B. as the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery.}}</ref> until 2012.
==Early life and education== Chakrabarti was born in 1959 in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, India. He was educated at City of London School; New College, Oxford (BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics); and the University of Sussex (MA in Development Economics).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ebrd.com/who-we-are/ebrd-president-sir-suma-chakrabarti.html|title=Sir Suma Chakrabarti}}</ref>
== Career in the civil service == {{BLP sources section|date=December 2022}} Chakrabarti joined the UK's Overseas Development Administration (ODA), the predecessor to the Department for International Development, in 1984 as a senior economic assistant working on macroeconomics issues and UK aid projects. He previously worked in Botswana on an Overseas Development Institute Fellowship. He was seconded by the UK government to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in the 1980s. On returning to the ODA in London, he became Private Secretary to the Conservative Lynda Chalker, then Minister of State for Overseas Development based at the Foreign Office. Chakrabarti subsequently became Head of Aid Policy and Resources.
He moved to H.M. Treasury in 1996 before taking a Cabinet Office post responsible for creating the new central Performance and Innovation Unit to support the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, co-ordinating reviews of long-term issues that cross public sector institutional boundaries. Still in the Cabinet Office, he headed the Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat, also maintaining a foot in the then Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions.
In 2001, returning to the Department for International Development (DfID), the successor body to the ODA, Chakrabarti became DfID Director-General for Regional Development Programmes, managing 1,200 staff in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America. On 8 December 2009, he gave evidence to The Iraq Inquiry, discussing preparations for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.<ref name="BBC XII">{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8401001.stm|title=Iraq details for aid workers 'were scanty before war'|date=8 December 2009|publisher=BBC News|access-date=28 January 2010}}</ref>
From 2007 to 2012, he served as a Permanent Secretary (senior civil servant) to the UK's Ministry of Justice. During that period, he also held office as Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, and, as such, was responsible for the running of the Crown Office, under the directions of the Lord Chancellor. He was appointed on 15 November 2007.<ref>[http://www.justice.gov.uk/about/cmb-chakrabarti.htm Suma Chakrabarti – Ministry of Justice<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704113503/http://www.justice.gov.uk/about/cmb-chakrabarti.htm |date=4 July 2008 }}</ref>
== President of the EBRD == Chakrabarti served two full terms as president from 2012 to 2020.<ref name="twoterms">{{cite news |title=Sir Suma Chakrabarti leaves EBRD Presidency after second and final term |url=https://www.ebrd.com/news/2020/sir-suma-chakrabarti-leaves-ebrd-presidency-after-second-and-final-term.html |agency=EBRD}}</ref> In his last weeks as EBRD President, Chakrabarti made a number of think tank appearances where he discussed the current state of international development and its principal actors.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/27/us-not-speaking-up-on-global-development-multilateral-bank-president-says-284936|title = U.S. Abdicating global leadership role, leader of European development bank says|website = Politico}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ebrd-complaint-exclusive/exclusive-ebrd-head-faces-investigation-call-over-dossier-on-directors-idUSKCN1MF2CZ|title = Exclusive: EBRD head faces investigation call over dossier on directors|newspaper = Reuters|date = 6 October 2018|last1 = Jones|first1 = Marc}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/ebrd-president/ebrd-says-president-cleared-in-information-gathering-investigation-idUSL8N1YI3JK|title = EBRD says president cleared in information gathering investigation|newspaper = Reuters|date = 13 December 2018|last1 = Jones|first1 = Marc}}</ref>
== Later career == By the end of his term at EBRD, Chakrabarti denied any immediate plans to return to the UK civil service.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.easterneye.biz/exclusive-former-top-asian-civil-servants-worry-at-turmoil-in-the-service/|title=Exclusive: Former top Asian civil servant's 'worry' at turmoil in the service|date=22 July 2020}}</ref>
On July 2, 2020, ODI announced the appointment of Chakrabarti as its next Chair of the Board of Trustees.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.odi.org/news/17127-statement-sir-suma-chakrabarti-new-chair-odi-board|title = Statement: Sir Suma Chakrabarti new Chair of ODI Board}}</ref> Also in 2020, he was appointed by the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Europe to serve as a member of the Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development, chaired by Mario Monti.<ref>[https://www.euro.who.int/en/media-centre/sections/press-releases/2020/announcing-the-pan-european-commission-on-health-and-sustainable-development-rethinking-policy-priorities-in-the-light-of-pandemics Announcing the Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development: Rethinking Policy Priorities in the light of Pandemics] World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe, press release of August 11, 2020.</ref>
Chakrabarti serves as deputy chairman of the Council for Reforms for the Republic of Kazakhstan.<ref name="reformCouncil">{{cite news |title=President Tokayev Creates Supreme Council Dedicated to Reforming Kazakhstan |url=https://astanatimes.com/2020/09/president-tokayev-creates-supreme-council-dedicated-to-reforming-kazakhstan/ |agency=The Astana Times}}</ref>
He is also an adviser to the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan on economic development, good governance and international cooperation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Abdulaziz |first=Abdurakhmon |date=2023-08-08 |title=Shavkat Mirziyoyev receives Suma Chakrabarti - adviser on economic development, good governance and international cooperation |url=https://daryo.uz/en/2022/07/05/shavkat-mirziyoyev-receives-suma-chakrabarti-adviser-on-economic-development-good-governance-and-international-cooperation/ |access-date=2023-08-08 |website=Daryo.uz}}</ref>
==Personal life== Chakrabarti is married and has one daughter.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}}
== Offices held == {{s-start}} {{s-gov}} {{s-bef | before= John Vereker}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Annual Newsletter 2002, Issue No 8 |url=https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20070701122455/http://www.dfid.gov.uk/aboutDFID/opd/opdnewsletter2002.pdf |publisher=Overseas Pensions Department |date=September 2002}}</ref> {{s-ttl | title = Permanent Secretary of the <br /> Department for International Development | years= 2002–2008}} {{s-aft | after = Minouche Shafik}} {{s-bef | before= Alex Allan<br /> ''<small>'''Permanent Secretary of the Department for Constitutional Affairs'''</small>'' }} {{s-ttl | title = Permanent Secretary of the <br /> Ministry of Justice | years= 2008–2012}} {{s-aft | after = Ursula Brennan}} {{s-civ}} {{s-bef | before= Thomas Mirow}} {{s-ttl | title = President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development | years= 2012–2020}} {{s-aft | after = Odile Renaud-Basso<br /> ''<small>'''President'''</small>'' }} {{s-end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090606125636/http://www.justice.gov.uk/about/chakrabarti.htm Profile on Ministry of Justice website] * [http://www.ebrd.com/who-we-are/ebrd-president-sir-suma-chakrabarti.html EBRD website] * [https://www.odi.org/ ODI website]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chakrabarti, Suma}} Category:People educated at the City of London School Category:Permanent under-secretaries of state for justice Category:Permanent under-secretaries of state for international development Category:Civil servants in the Ministry of Overseas Development Category:Civil servants in the Cabinet Office Category:Private secretaries in the British Civil Service Category:Members of HM Government Economic Service Category:Living people Category:Alumni of New College, Oxford Category:Alumni of the University of Sussex Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Category:Presidents of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Category:Indian emigrants to England Category:1959 births Category:English people of Bengali descent Category:People from Jalpaiguri Category:Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom