Following is the text of the statement issued today in Trieste, Italy, by the Quartet (United Nations, Russian Federation, United States and European Union):

With the world facing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Government leaders and senior ministers meeting at United Nations Headquarters in New York today agreed on a sweeping action plan to help blunt the impact of the economic downturn, especially for developing counties, but “in the interest of all nations [...] to achieve more inclusive, equitable, balanced, development-oriented and sustainable economic development to help overcome poverty and inequality”.

The sorrow and brutality of war continued to be felt by untold millions of civilians trapped by conflict or forced into flight, John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator told the Security Council today.

States parties to the Convention on the Law of the Sea concluded their nineteenth meeting this evening by approving salary increases for judges of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and a new arrangement for allocating seats on the Tribunal and the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, but failed to reach a decision on how best to cope with the Commission’s workload.

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the G-8 informal regional meeting on Afghanistan, in Trieste, today, 26 June:

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS) until 31 December and requested the Secretary-General to establish a United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS) to succeed it for an initial period of 12 months after that.

Asking the donor community to keep funds flowing, top officials from United Nations agencies, speaking at a round table discussion this morning on the Organization’s development response to the crisis, warned that business as usual would not be enough to maintain traction on development.

The Organizational Committee of the third session of the Peacebuilding Commission elected Peter Maurer (Switzerland) by acclamation on Monday as Chair of the country-specific configuration on Burundi, replacing Anders Lidén of Sweden.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

Struggling to recover from steep declines in export earnings, tax revenues and overall economic growth, delegates from developing and middle-income countries alike today pressed rich nations to dismantle protectionist trade measures and fulfil pledges for official development assistance to avert a humanitarian catastrophe, as the plenary debate of the Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development continued at United Nations Headquarters.