Taher Kanaan

Managing Director, Jordan Center for Public Policy, Research, and Dialogue

Dr. Taher Kanaan is managing director of the Jordan Center for Public Policy Research and Dialogue, an independent think tank focusing on issues critical to the development process in Jordan. A graduate of Cambridge University he has written widely on economic development in the region, including economic input-output modelling for Iraq, projections of capital needs and the trade gap for Jordan and Iraq and multi-sectoral projections for the Moroccan economy.

Taher Kanaan was previously a consultant to the World Bank on development finance and housing policy in Palestine, and has held senior executive positions in UNCTAD, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, and the Industrial Development Bank of Jordan. He served the State of Jordan as member of Parliament Upper House, secretary general of the Higher Council for Science and Technology, minister of planning, minister of state for development affairs, and deputy prime minister. Taher Kanaan has been engaged in various voluntary civil society activities including curently serving on the Boards of Trustees of the Economic Research Forum of the Arab Countries, Iran and Turkey (ERF), the Center for Arab Unity Studies, the Institute of Palestine Studies, and the Arab Anti-Corruption Organization.