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The United Nations regional commission for West Asia is set to hold its upcoming ministerial session in the Syrian capital of Damascus, where top officials from the region are expected to discuss socio-economic policies for their countries, peace and security matters, and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan will attend a working dinner with a major committee of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) tomorrow and will open an all-day high-level conference Monday grouping the two institutions with multilateral trade and socio-economic bodies.

Agriculture and forestry products such as sugarcane, maize and manure could become leading sources of energy, a key element in achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger and ensuring environmental sustainability, according to a report released today.

A virtual world of video game planes launching airdrops of food over crisis zones and emergency trucks struggling up treacherous roads under rebel threat, and a real-world reunion of Olympic gold medallist rowers, are among the latest tools in the United Nations effort to raise funds and global awareness in the fight against hunger.

After the harshest winter and heaviest snowfalls in years cut off supplies for tens of thousands of Afghans, the United Nations mission in the country is on alert for potential flooding that could affect up to 100,000 people.

Following up on his appeal to international donors to honour their pledges of aid for reconstruction and peace-making in war-ravaged Sudan, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called on the world not to repeat the mistakes of past crises when many people died because promised funds never materialized.

Current and future United Nations operations can take away valuable lessons from the world body’s recently-closed mission in Guatemala, which stands as a successful example of multidimensional peacebuilding, Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in his wrap-up report on the mission’s work.

Early results from an international survey to pinpoint some of the world's best sites for renewable energy show that the potential for deploying solar panels and wind turbines in some developing countries is far greater than previously supposed, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said today.

Leaders of more than a dozen international sports organizations today pledged to join the United Nations-led recovery efforts underway in the countries devastated by the late December earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

Saying it has made "a major shift in priorities and direction" since its last meeting two years ago, a committee on development in the United Nations agency on intellectual property rights says developing countries must devise policies and strategies that turn their traditional knowledge, healing arts and culture into national assets.