Lakshmi Puri Biography 
Lakshmi Puri is a diplomat and economist who currently serves as the Assistant Secretary-General at United Nations. She is the wife of Hardeep Singh Puri, a former civil servant, diplomat and noted Indian politician associated with Bharatiya Janata party who currently as a parliamentarian and Union Minister of State with Independent Charge in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. He is a former Indian Foreign Service officer. Lakshmi Puri was appointed as Assistant Secretary-General for Intergovernmental Support and Strategic Partnerships at the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on 11 March 2011. Puri also serves as the Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, who joined the leadership team in 2011 at its inception.
Lakshmi Puri was born in year 1952. She completed her education from Delhi. History, public policy and administration, international relations and law, and economic development are among the subjects which she specialized during her academic career. She has more than 37 years of experience in economic and development policy-making. As a diplomat she is associated with political, peace and security, humanitarian and human rights. Now it is more than 2 decades she has been associated with UN, in different roles. Puri joined the United Nations as Director of UNCTAD’s largest division.
Gender equality and women’s empowerment are among her major roles over the years. She has 28 years of experience in Indian Foreign Service, and has held several politically sensitive posts. She works on gender equality and woman empowerment, and currently associated with UN Women wing. She believes that hi-tech education emphasizing on science, technology, engineering and math is a critical means to ensuring women's participation in current digital economy.
Published: October 04, 2018
Updated: October 04, 2018
