HEADS OF REGIONAL COMMISSIONS TO ADDRESS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL

Press Release
ECOSOC/5723

HEADS OF REGIONAL COMMISSIONS TO ADDRESS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL

GENEVA, 15 July (UN Information Service) -- The Economic and Social Council is to hold a debate on regional cooperation today with the participation of the Executive Secretaries of the five regional commissions of the United Nations.

The regional commissions play a crucial role in raising the level of economic and social development in their spheres of activity and in strengthening relations among countries, United Nations organizations and other intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. In keeping with the system-wide process of reform, the commissions are continuing to examine their activities, adjust priorities, restructure programmes and reorganize their staffs to increase efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

The Executive Secretaries are named at the level of Under-Secretary-General. They are:

-- K.Y. Amoako (Ghana), head of the Economic Commission for Africa since 1 May 1995. Starting in 1974, Mr. Amoako occupied a number of posts at the World Bank, including Director of the Department of Social Policy and Education; chief of human resources of the Operations Division for Latin America and the Caribbean, and representative of the Bank in Zambia.

-- Yves Berthelot (France), appointed to head the Economic Commission for Europe on 1 October 1993. Previously Mr. Berthelot served as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Before entering the United Nations, Mr. Berthelot worked as Director of Research of the Centre for Development of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, then as Director of the Centre d•études prospectives et d informations internationales (CEPII). He has also held several posts in the French civil service and in the Ivory Coast.

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-- Hazem El-Beblawi, head of the Economic Commission for Western Asia since 1 February 1995, has presided over the Export Development Bank of Egypt as well as the Export Credit Guarantee Company. Mr. El-Beblawi has also served as Director of Research at the Ministry of Finance of Kuwait and as an economist in the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.

-- Adrianus Mooy was named to head the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific on 1 April 1995. Mr. Mooy has served as Ambassador to the European Communities, Governor of the Central Bank of Indonesia and Governor for Indonesia of the International Monetary Fund. He has also occupied a number of other senior positions in his country.

-- Gert Rosenthal has been Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) since 1 January 1988. Mr. Rosenthal became Director of the ECLAC Office in Mexico City in 1974. He has also worked at UNCTAD and in the secretariat of the Regional Treaty for Economic Integration of Central America.

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