Dr. Heiner Flassbeck is Director of the Division on Globalization and Development Strategies of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). He is the principal author and the leader of the team preparing UNCTAD's Trade and Development Report. The Trade and Development Report is the flagship annual publication of UNCTAD covering both recent and longer term issues in the world economy, with particular emphasis on the implications for developing countries.

Dr. Flassbeck is the Chairman of UNCTAD's Task Force on Systemic Issues and Economic Cooperation, which examines the causes of the current financial and economic crisis as well as the related solutions. The report of the Task Force, titled, "The Global Economic Crisis: Systemic Failures and Multilateral Remedies", has been published recently.