News

UNCTAD Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi has expressed his sadness on the passing away of His Excellency John Atta Mills, President of the Republic of Ghana, and offers his sincere heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family and the Government and people of Ghana.​

At its substantive session held yesterday in New York, the UN Economic and Social Council adopted without a vote a resolution on follow-up of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) outcomes, and another resolution on science and technology for development.​

Morocco's Université Mohammed V - Souissi (UM5S) joined the UNCTAD Virtual Institute network yesterday, bringing the number of member institutions to 76 and the number of countries represented in the network to 40. ​

The Permanent Mission of Turkey has informed that the deadline for application to Turkey's Graduate Scholarship Programme for students from least developed countries has been extended to 3 August 2012.​

Some 300 experts gathered at the ad hoc expert meeting on consumer protection held at UNCTAD on 12 - 13 July saw the need for revision of UN consumer protection guidelines in light of "radical changes in the market place."

The 61st session of the UNCTAD Working Party on the Strategic Framework and the Programme Budget opened today in Geneva. The current session will review the UNCTAD programme narrative for the 2012–2013 biennium and the UNCTAD section of the proposed United Nations Strategic Framework for 2014–2015.​

The President of the UN General Assembly, H.E. Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, has written to the UNCTAD Secretary-General expressing "heartfelt gratitude" for UNCTAD's contribution to the debate on the state of the world economy held in New York in May.

At the request of a number of African countries, the Commonwealth Secretariat has agreed in principle to support EMPRETEC centres in African Commonwealth countries with the aim of strengthening business development services offered by these centres.

Nine newly recruited Egyptian diplomats will be coming to UNCTAD 27 July for a briefing on the work of the organization. The young diplomats are currently undergoing training at the Egyptian Institute for Diplomatic Studies in Cairo.

His Excellency Mr. Jean Feyder, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has informed that H.E. Dr. Nicolas Schmit, Minister of Labour, Employment and Immigration will be taking part in the Trade and Development Board panel discussion this September on development strategies in a globalized world.