Bermuda has a new United Nations Development Programme representative.

Kishan Khoday will be dividing his time between the island and Belize, the Cayman Islands, Jamaica the Bahamas and the Turks & Caicos Islands — five other jurisdictions that he represents for the UNDP.

A Canadian national, Mr Khoday is leading a team from the Kingston office on an “official mission” to the Bahamas and Bermuda.

While in Bermuda, he met Walter Roban, the Deputy Premier, and a host of government ministers and civil servants.

Mr Roban, who is also the Minister of Home Affairs, thanked Mr Khoday for visiting Bermuda so early in his tenure and said he anticipated rewarding and productive partnerships.

The UNDP said that Mr Khoday had pledged continuing support for Bermuda’s development aspirations “anchored on an inclusive and sustainable approach”.

He also commended the Government’s commitment to widening access to small business financing in key growth sectors.

Mr Khoday said: “I look forward to building on our ongoing partnerships and expanding co-operation in a way that builds resilience to multidimensional crises and advances results under the SDGs.

“This includes priorities such as social inclusion and community empowerment; climate resilience and biodiversity, disaster management and sustainable finance.”

Mr Khoday has served with UNDP for 25 years, having co-ordinated more than $1 billion in country programming to help partners and communities around the world advance inclusive and sustainable development initiatives.

This included tours of duty with UNDP country offices in China, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia and with UNDP’s regional offices for the Middle East and North Africa based in Egypt and Jordan.

Before joining the UN, Mr Khoday worked with government and community organisations in his home countries of Canada and India on issues of poverty reduction, ecological resilience and community empowerment.

The UNDP stated that Mr Khoday was “a frequent speaker at international conferences and policy dialogues on the development agenda, and is a recognised thought leader on strategic issues such as climate change, ecosystem resilience, constitutionalism, postcolonial and decolonial theory, and resilience-based approaches to development”.