UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Tuesday appointed Haoliang Xu of China as Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

"He will replace Ajay Chhibber of India, who will return to his Government," said an announcement issued by Ban's spokesperson. ?

Xu "has many years of distinguished service within UNDP holding various leadership positions, most recently as Deputy Regional Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States in New York since 2010," it said.

Xu has served as the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Kazakhstan.

Before joining the world body, Xu was a computer-aided design engineer with Louis Berger International Inc. in the state of New Jersey and an assistant lecturer at Tongji University in Shanghai, China.

He graduated from Tongji University with a degree in Bridge Engineering and earned a Master's degree in International Policy Analysis and Management from Colombia University in New York.