JAPAN CONTRIBUTES 652,600,000 YEN TO UNITED NATIONS CENTRE FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Press Release
DEV/2258

JAPAN CONTRIBUTES 652,600,000 YEN TO UNITED NATIONS CENTRE FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

NEW YORK (DESA), 11 September -- The Government of Japan has contributed 642 million yen for financing the activities of the United Nations Centre for Regional Development during the fiscal year 2000–2001, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), the executing agency for the project, announced today.

The Centre for Regional Development seeks to enhance the capabilities of developing countries in development planning and management at the local and regional levels. In pursuit of this aim, it organizes training courses, promotes collaborative research in critical issues of sub-national development, extends advisory services, provides a forum of exchange of experience, and promotes exchange of publications and information on sub-national development.

The Centre is a trust-fund project, which was started in 1971 under an agreement between the Government of Japan and the United Nations. The Centre is located in Nagoya, Japan, and has a branch office in Nairobi to meet the growing needs for training and research in African countries.

With the support of DESA, the Centre also seeks to enhance the capabilities of developing countries in social development, including issues of poverty eradication, employment generation and social integration, as well as to strengthen the technical and institutional capacity of developing countries in development planning and management policies and programmes at the local and regional levels.

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