Agriculture was a mainstay of development in Africa, but was also a neglected sector, Robert Vos, Director, Development Policy and Analysis Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, told correspondents today at the launch of the 2009 Africa Economic Report, adding that “regional value chains” could enhance African agricultural markets through cooperation, rather than focusing on competition between African countries.
In progress at UNHQ
Press Conference
The United Nations had downgraded its world economic forecast for 2009, Rob Vos, Director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this morning.
Georgian Ambassador Alexander Lomaia today accused the Russian Federation of using its position as a permanent member of the Security Council to pressure Secretariat officials into drastically altering the title and content of the Secretary-General’s latest report, which proposed a new security regime to help stabilize the Abkhazia region and ensure a “viable role” for the United Nations there.
The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues would support a framework which stressed the State’s duty to protect citizens, through regulation and adjudication, against human rights abuses by third parties, Chairperson Victoria Tauli-Corpuz said this afternoon.
Two top United Nations officials briefed correspondents at Headquarters today on the Secretary-General’s recent trip to Sri Lanka and the steps that the United Nations will be taking to aid the country’s reconstruction and reconciliation.
The top United Nations management official presented a “mixed picture” of the Organization’s financial health at a Headquarters press conference today, while noting some recent improvements in several areas.
While the activities of huge, complex peacekeeping operations in Darfur and the Democratic Republic of the Congo grabbed the headlines, there were several smaller United Nations missions carrying out their mandates “quietly and effectively” and, along the way, helping to improve the lives of local populations in their host countries, the world body’s top peacekeeping official said today.
The first non-profit, tuition-free global online university could provide unprecedented access to education for aspiring students in developing countries, Shai Reshef, founder of the University of the People, said at a Headquarters press conference this morning.
As the Government of Sri Lanka declared an end to military operations against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes today urged the authorities to ensure safe transit for and speedy processing of thousands of war-dazed civilians fleeing the conflict zone.
The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues had an urgent mandate to activate the 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples through national legislation around the world, members said at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon on today’s opening of the Forum’s eighth session.