Press Conference

PRESS BRIEFING ON MEETING BETWEEN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL,

BRETTON WOODS INSTITUTIONS, WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION

More coherence was needed between international financial trade and monetary policies and development institutions, Oscar de Rojas, Director of the Financing for Development Office in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said at a Headquarters press briefing today.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PAUL VOLCKER, NAMED TO HEAD PANEL

INVESTIGATING ‘OIL-FOR-FOOD’ PROGRAMME

Very important accusations made about the United Nations, the administration of the “oil-for-food” programme, as well as activities outside the United Nations needed to be resolved, Paul Volcker, panel member of the Oil-for-Food Independent Inquiry, told correspondents this afternoon at a Headquarters press conference.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY SOUTH AFRICA

On 27 April at 10:30 a.m., a meeting in the ECOSOC Chamber would celebrate the role of the United Nations in supporting the freedom struggle in South Africa, which ended 10 years ago this month, Dumisano S. Kumalo told correspondents this morning during a press conference at Headquarters.

PRESS CONFERENCE ON ASIAN HIGHWAY NETWORK

An historic agreement to complete a 140,000-kilometre highway network linking 32 Asian nations will open for signature on 26 April in Shanghai, China, at a regional ministerial meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), correspondents were told at a Headquarters press briefing this morning.

PRESS CONFERENCE ON REPORT CONCERNING PRIVATE SECTOR

PARTICIPATION IN WATER, SANITATION

The final report of the six-month Global Water Scoping Process was launched this evening at a Headquarters press conference sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations.

PRESS BRIEFING BY MINE ACTION SERVICE

“We can consign the anti-personnel landmine to the dustbin of history”, Martin Barber, Director, United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), told correspondents this afternoon at Headquarters during a briefing on the status of the Mine-Ban Convention and the “Summit for a Mine-Free World”.

PRESS CONFERENCE ON CIVIL SOCIETY FORUM TO PRECEDE MAURITIUS MEETING

Preparations for a Civil Society Forum, which will precede the August Mauritius meeting, reviewing implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, was officially launched at a Headquarters press conference this morning.

According to the United Nations envoy for the world’s poorest countries, despite real progress over the past three days, talks on drafting a global strategy to help small islands overcome the unique challenges they faced would have to continue during the coming months, in preparation for the international meeting to be held from 30 August to 3 September in Mauritius.

2004 ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SURVEY OF ASIA AND PACIFIC

LAUNCHED AT HEADQUARTERS PRESS CONFERENCE

Developing countries in Asia and the Pacific experienced strong, broad-based growth in 2003 combined with low inflation, according to the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2004, the flagship publication of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia (ESCAP).

Press conference on 2004 global economic outlook

Despite the current turbulent world situation, things were, from an economic point of view, looking better for the near-term with the world economy expected to grow by 3.7 per cent this year, Nobel Laureate Lawrence Klein, founder of project LINK, told correspondents this morning.