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News Archive


High Level Forum assesses the effectiveness of Development Assistance
Released: 2 Sep 2008
Over 1,200 representatives of governments of aidreceiving countries, donor institutions, foundations, parliaments, and civil society organizations gathered here today in the Third High Level Forum (HLF) on Aid Effectiveness, a three-day conference on improving the quality and impact of development assistance.
No Aid Effectiveness without Gender Equality
Released: 2 Sep 2008
At the start of 3rd High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, the United Nations Development Fund for Women, UNIFEM, and the European Commission call for strengthened efforts to address gender inequalities in a quest to end global poverty.
New Commonwealth publication provides labour market assessments of countries in Africa, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Islands
Released: 3 Sep 2008
New Commonwealth publication provides labour market assessments of countries in Africa, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Islands
Commonwealth Finance Ministers to discuss rising food, fuel prices
Released: 3 Sep 2008
Commonwealth Finance Ministers will discuss the implications of rising food and fuel prices on their economies at their Annual Meeting, which this year will be held in Castries, St Lucia, from 6 to 8 October 2008.
Accra aid conference: need to redouble our efforts to meet jointly agreed targets on alignment by 2010
Released: 4 Sep 2008
At the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra/Ghana 2 -4 September 2008, participants of the Roundtable on Alignment noted that progress towards greater alignment has been limited and called to step up efforts to support partner countries’ policies and use their systems and procedures.
Progress and challenges in achieving anti-poverty goals
Released: 4 Sep 2008
As world leaders prepare to review gains in global development in New York later this month, a new UN report finds significant progress in providing debt relief to the world’s poorest countries, but not in fulfilling trade and development aid commitments. Donors will need to increase their development assistance by $18 billion a year between now and 2010 if they are to meet their previously agreed pledges.
Gender Equality in the Final Accra Agenda for Action
Released: 4 Sep 2008
The Accra HLF ended on the 4th of September 2008 at a very high note, with all stakeholders having some level of satisfaction with the final outcome document, the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA).
Investment-friendly monetary and financial policies are key to sustained growth in developing countries, trade and Development Report 2008 says
Released: 4 Sep 2008
Focus should be on retained profits and creation of investment credit by banking system, Trade and Development Report recommends
UNCTAD Calls for increased development aid to support anti-poverty goals, productive investment, debt sustainability
Released: 4 Sep 2008
Trade and Development Report 2008 highlights shortcomings of aid policies and debt-relief measures
UN MDG report says world on track to halve poverty thanks to Asia
Released: 11 Sep 2008
The world is on track to halve the global poverty rate by 2015 and achieve the number one target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), thanks to progress made in East Asia, particularly China, says the United Nations’ latest MDG report. Without China’s contribution, the world would fail to meet the poverty reduction goal.
Progress in achieving MDGs under threat, new report finds: Higher food prices likely to deepen poverty in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia
Released: 12 Sep 2008
The world has made strong and sustained progress in reducing extreme poverty, the United Nations reports today, but this is now being undercut by higher prices, particularly of food and oil, and the global economic slowdown.
Members asking to build on “enormous progress” for final agreement — Lamy
Released: 11 Sep 2008
Director-General Pascal Lamy, in his address to the Annual Parliamentary Conference of the WTO in Geneva on 11 September 2008, urged parliamentarians “to help us close the July package”. “While it has become clear that we cannot complete the Doha Round by the end of this year, let us at least aim to complete the modalities in 2008, so as to conclude the Round in 2009”. This is what he said:
Lamy ready to call Ministers back to Geneva
Released: 16 Sep 2008
WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, in a statement at UNCTAD on 16 September 2008, said that “depending on progress made by the negotiators, I am ready to call Ministers to Geneva to try and close the issues which remain open”. “The reasons why we must conclude the Round are becoming more critical by the day as the economic and financial outlook continues to deteriorate”. This is what he said:
WTO Report: An open trade regime has helped economic and human development in Barbados
Released: 17 Sep 2008
Barbados’ generally open trade and investment regime, and its close integration into the world economy has helped it maintain some of the highest per capita incomes and human development indicators among developing countries, according to a WTO Secretariat report on the trade policies and practices of Barbados.
The New Global Poverty Estimates – Digging Deeper into a Hole
Released: 17 Sep 2008
Recently, the World Bank released “updated” global poverty estimates. These new numbers are based on a new price survey and a new benchmark international poverty line of $1.25 in 2005 purchasing power parities (PPPs). The new figures purport to describe world poverty since 1981, and thus affect our understanding of the world over the last quarter century of globalization.
Governments and Multilateral Organizations Must Do a Better Job of Answering to Women for Commitments Made, Says New UNIFEM Report
Released: 18 Sep 2008
Stronger accountability needed to move from commitments to results, including achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Women must be included in all oversight processes; gender equality must become standard against which public performance is assessed.
Greater Accountability Needed to Boost Women’s Rights, UN Agency Says
Released: 18 Sep 2008
United Nations, New York — Stronger accountability measures are needed to track progress governments and multilateral organizations have made in implementing their commitments to enhancing women’s rights, according to a new report by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).
Empowering Women Central to Africa’s Progress: Women’s forum to highlight urgent needs at the UN high-level meeting on Africa’s development needs
Released: 19 Sep 2008
Women’s forum to highlight urgent needs at the UN high-level meeting on Africa’s development needs.
Commonwealth Secretary-General addresses High Level UN Meeting
Released: 23 Sep 2008
The Commonwealth and Africa are "joined at the hip", Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said on 22 September 2008 at a United Nations High Level Meeting on Africa's Development Needs, in New York.
Lamy warns against protectionism amid financial crisis
Released: 24 Sep 2008
Director-General Pascal Lamy, in his keynote address to the WTO Public Forum on 24 September 2008, said that an important lesson of the Great Depression “is that protectionism and economic isolationism do not work”. Underlining the importance of the Doha Round to the world economy, he asked civil society to help bring negotiating topics such as agriculture and environment issues to “closure”. This is what he said:
EC, UNDG and World Bank to support post-crisis situations and recovery planning
Released: 25 Sep 2008
UNITED NATIONS – The European Commission, the United Nations Development Group and the World Bank today issued a joint declaration on how they will assess and support post-crisis situations and plan recovery efforts.