Regional integration in Africa was essential for sustained development -- especially within the context of the current global crisis -- and could help to enhance competitiveness, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) told correspondents today at Headquarters.

The world’s “three F” ‑‑ food, fuel and financial ‑‑ crises had broadened and deepened the extent of hunger and malnutrition around the world, Sheila Sisulu, World Food Programme (WFP) Deputy Executive Director for Hunger Solutions, told correspondents at Headquarters today. She was joined at the press conference by Henk-Jan Brinkman, WFP’s Senior Adviser for Economic Policy, and the Programme’s Spokesperson, Bettina Luescher.

The fight against terrorism, important as it was, must be conducted in conformity with the rule of law and the principles of due process, the Chairman of the Security Council’s Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee said at Headquarters today.

The Capital Master Plan for the renovation of the New York Headquarters of the United Nations was substantially on budget and on time, Assistant Secretary-General Michael Adlerstein told correspondents at a press conference this afternoon.

One hundred and forty-four days before the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, countries still had some “formidable differences” to bridge in order to “seal a deal”, Janos Pasztor, Director of the Secretary-General’s Climate Change Support Team, said at Headquarters today.

The international community must remain steadfastly committed to Haiti’s long-term recovery and development as the impoverished Caribbean island nation grappled with the impact of four hurricanes last year, sharp hikes in food and oil prices, and the global recession, the head of a team of United Nations advisers that visited Haiti last week said today at a Headquarters press conference.

Karin Landgren, Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), said today that, although the peace process had stagnated to a degree, she hoped that party leaders would rise above their differences and work together pragmatically, through consensus and dialogue to advance the process, as they had done in the past.

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.

Energy was central to all aspects of development, the Ambassador of Belarus said today, urging United Nations Member States to bridge the current “energy divide” by, among other things, creating a global mechanism to ensure that all countries, especially developing nations and transition economies, gained fair and adequate access to technologies for new and renewable sources of energy.

With the General Assembly holding its first ever thematic debate on the responsibility to protect populations from genocide or other war crimes, a diverse panel of academics struggled today during a press conference to find common ground on how the concept, seen by some developing nations as a Western ploy to meddle in their domestic affairs, could ever be fairly or effectively applied.