Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, The Netherlands and UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the World Summit on Sustainable Development Johannes Pieter (Jan) Pronk was born in The Hague on 16 March 1940. Having completed his secondary education, Mr. Pronk studied economics at the School of Economics in Rotterdam, graduating in 1964. From 1965 to 1971 he lectured at the School of Economics' Development Programming Centre and the Netherlands Economic Institute in Rotterdam. Mr. Pronk was a member of the Lower House of Parliament for the Labour Party (PvdA) from 1971 to 1973, from 1978 to 1980 and from 1986 to 1989. From 11 May 1973 to 19 December 1977, Mr. Pronk was Minister for Development Cooperation in the Den Uyl government. From 1980 to 1985 he was deputy secretary-general of UNCTAD and from 1985 to 1986 assistant secretary-general of the United Nations. From 1986 to 1989 he was first deputy chairman of the Labour Party. He was extraordinary professor of the theory and practice of international development policy at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague from 1979 to 1980 and in 1989 he occupied the Den Uyl Chair (endowed by the Wiardi Beckman Foundation) at the University of Amsterdam. Mr. Pronk has been secretary to the Manshold Committee, a member of the editorial boards of the International Spectator, Wending and Socialisme en Democratie and treasurer of the Brandt Commission. Mr. Pronk was again appointed Minister for Development Cooperation in the third Lubbers government on 7 November 1989 and, for the third time, in the first Kok government on 22 August 1994. On 3 August 1998 he was appointed Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment in the second Kok government.
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