Rubens Ricupero (born March 1, 1937) is a Brazilian academic, economist, bureaucrat and diplomat. He served as the fifth Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development from September 1995 to September 2004.

Ricupero earned a Bachelor in Law from the University of São Paulo in 1959. He also studied at the Rio Branco Institute, a branch of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations.^[2]

From 1979 to 1995, Ricupero taught courses in international relations at the University of Brasília; and in the same period, he also taught the history of Brazilian diplomatic relations at the Rio Branco Institute.^[2]

Ricupero was Chairman of the Finance Committee at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development which was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.^[3] He was the Brazilian Minister of the Environment and Amazonian Affairs, before becoming Minister of Finance in 1994.^[2]

He is credited with providing continuity during the implementation of the Plano Real.^[4] This plan encompassed anti-inflationary monetary reform, the introduction of the modern Brazilian real and other measures taken to stabilize the Brazilian economy.^[5]

Diplomatic postings have included:

• Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva (1987–1991)^[2]
• Ambassador to the United States of America (1991–1993)^[2]
• Ambassador to Italy (1995)^[2]
• GATT, Chairman of Council of Representatives (1989, 1991)^[3]

Ricupero's published encompass 48 works in 58 publications in 4 languages and 400 library holdings.^[6]

• 2010 — Diário de bordo: A viagem presidencial de Tancredo
• 2007 — A abertura dos portos
• 2006 — A ONU no século XXI: perspectivas
• 2004 — Beyond Conventional Wisdom in development policy: an Intellectual History of UNCTAD 1964-2004
• 2001 — O Brasil e o dilema da globalização
• 2000 — Rio Branco: o Brasil no mundo
• 1998 — O ponto ótimo da crise. Rio de Janeiro: Ed. Revan. ISBN 9788571061514; OCLC 254511468
• 1995 — Visões do Brasil : ensaios sobre a história e a inserção internacional do Brasil. Rio de Janeiro;São Paulo : Ed. Record. ISBN 9788501043368; OCLC 254090142
• 1994 — A Nova inserção internacional do Brasil
• 1994 — Estabilidade e crescimento: os desafios do real
• 1993 — NAFTA and Brazil (with Sérgio Estanislav do Amaral, Robert Charles Kelso). Coral Gables, Florida: North-South Center, University of Miami. OCLC 29661557
• 1992 — O Futuro do Brasil : a América Latina e o fim da guerra fria
• 1991 — Brasil em mudança

• Santos-Dumont Merit Medal (1973)
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (2019)