As Minister of State for Economic Affairs in Turkey when Bülent Ecevit was Prime Minister, Derviş was the architect of Turkey's successful three-year economic recovery program launched in 2001. Before being named to head the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),[6] he was a member of the Turkish parliament, and a member of the joint commission of the Turkish and European Parliaments. He used to be a member of the Convention on the Future of Europe.