SEMINAR ON ROLE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION TO BEGIN TOMORROW IN RIO DE JANEIRO
Press Release
DEV/2094
SEMINAR ON ROLE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION TO BEGIN TOMORROW IN RIO DE JANEIRO
19960305 The United Nations and the Government of Brazil will hold a three-day interregional seminar on the role of public administration in developing infrastructure and protecting the environment beginning tomorrow, 6 March, in Rio de Janeiro.Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Honduras, Jamaica, Malawi, Panama, Peru, United Kingdom, United States and Venezuela will send representatives including ministry officials, development specialists, practitioners and professional advisers.
The seminar will address the question of how governments and public administrators can manage new responsibilities arising from the need for economic growth in a framework of sustainable development. The focus of the session will be on appropriate infrastructural facilities; protection of the environment; and equitable social development. In particular, the participants will address challenges such as how to enhance public sector planning in the areas of infrastructure and the environment; cultivating participatory and consensus-building mechanisms relating to infrastructure development and the protection of the environment; managerial implementation of environmental strategies; and evaluation and feed-back.
Organized by the United Nations Department for Development Support and Management Services, the seminar is an outgrowth of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held in 1992 in Rio. The seminar aims at preparing for the resumed fiftieth session of the General Assembly on public administration and development, scheduled from 15 to 19 April in New York. The results of the seminar will be presented at the resumed session.
Earlier meetings have also laid the groundwork for the resumed General Assembly session. A Stockholm conference, held in October 1995, addressed the question of public administration and social development and a Berlin conference, held last January, examined the role of public administration in countries with economies in transition. Other meetings to be held before the resumed session include a conference in Rome, to focus on ways to restore government administrative machinery in situations of conflict (13-15 March); a meeting in Manila to discuss the role of public administration in economic development in Asia (18-20 March); a regional African meeting in Windhoek to
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discuss how States can evolve from structural adjustment to improved efficiency in government (25-27 March); and a conference of African ministers of public administration is scheduled for early April in Ouagadougou.
The resumed General Assembly session, as mandated in resolution 49/136, will "examine the question of public administration and development, exchange experiences, review the activities of the United Nations in this field and make recommendations". The session was prompted by a global trend towards more responsive and efficient governments and a new understanding of private- public interaction.
It will mark the first time that the 185 Member States of the United Nations will address the relationship between governance, public administration and development. Pre-Assembly events on 11 and 12 April and parallel meetings, including an NGO Forum, an Executive Session and a Private Sector Colloquium, will bring together national and regional institutes of public administration and management, senior government representatives, and representatives from the private sector.
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