UN Economic and Social Council to focus on aid effectiveness, world economy

The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) will stage policy dialogues on development cooperation, the state of the world economy and its impact on the UN’s development agenda during its High-Level Segment next week.

As part of the week’s events, the Development Cooperation Forum will bring together representatives from governments, the private sector, inter-governmental organizations (NGOs), and academia.

“We’ll be looking at development assistance from a global perspective and will examine the relationship between donor countries and recipient countries on the effectiveness and quality of aid,” President of ECOSOC President Léo Mérorès said.

In a high-level policy dialogue, executive heads of the international financial and trade institutions will discuss the state of the world economy and its implications for development.

“We are focusing now on the major challenges the world is facing today – climate change, food and energy prices, the precarious state of the world economy, and development aid,” Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, said.

“These issues are essential for development and they’re important to all countries – developing and developed – to all societies,” he added.

The Annual Ministerial Review will bring four developing and four developed countries to report on development progress. Ministerial roundtables will address the question of how to put the world onto a sustainable development path.

Amongst others, keynote speakers will include Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and Lord Stern of Brentford, author of the Stern Review on the economics of climate change.