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The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the European Commission (EC) today signed an agreement designed to create a closer strategic partnership in the fields of development and humanitarian aid by streamlining programmes and reducing costs in the battle to alleviate world hunger.

A two-day United Nations Seminar on Assistance to the Palestinian People has concluded its work with an urgent call for international aid to mitigate the humanitarian crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory resulting from three years of violence and destruction that has caused record unemployment, poverty and malnutrition.

Multi-million dollar contracts for heavy equipment and spare parts for Iraq’s oil and electricity sectors have been prioritized for immediate delivery after talks this month with United Nations agencies, the United States-run Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and Iraqi representatives, the UN Office of the Iraq Programme (OIP) announced today.

The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), holding its annual meeting in Geneva, was briefed on the plight of 49 of the world’s poorest countries struggling with a host of socio-economic problems, as international aid continues to decline.

Thanks to a new technology, all de-mining work has resumed along the Kabul to Kandahar road, one of Afghanistan’s most important routes for commerce and relief aid, and is proceeding at a fast pace after a nearly two-month long suspension following a rash of attacks, the United Nations said today.

With recent progress in the Middle East peace process affording a glimmer of hope, both sides must now build momentum and mutual trust, with the Palestinians disarming terrorists, and Israel easing the daily lives of Palestinians and releasing more prisoners, the top United Nations Middle East envoy told the Security Council today.

The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has adopted a resolution concerning its role in implementing the outcomes of major United Nations conferences and summits, deciding to take the necessary steps to put into action the provisions relevant to its work and its subsidiary machinery.

The United Nations Security Council today welcomed Ethiopia's and Eritrea's acceptance as final and binding an agreement on the delimitation of the border between the two countries, and urged them to cooperation fully with the commission responsible for demarking the boundary.

The top United Nations envoy for Iraq heard more calls for broadening the world body's role there while visiting neighbouring Iran today even as major governments, including the United States, which runs the current ruling Provisional Authority in Baghdad, are raising that possibility with Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today hailed the historic swearing-in of the four Vice-Presidents who will head up the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC) new power-sharing transitional government as a "milestone" in the war-weary country's search for lasting peace.