UNESCWA Executive Secretary Mervat Tallawy said that the Commission’s Unit for Conflict Related Issues (ECRI) was documenting the effects of the military operations on Lebanon in order to serve as a practical reference to any future work for rehabilitation and re-construction in the country. Tallawy was speaking this morning to the UN Information Services when she also underlined that the work program was ongoing as planned before the recent crisis has ravaged the country.

Tallawy said a team is in place at UNESCWA headquarters in Beirut to follow up on work programmes while a temporary office in Vienna is the reference point for the execution of this process. She said the member countries had been apprised of this measure. They were assured that UNESCWA work would continue its work and that the United Nations Secretary-General had decided the Commission would return to Beirut as soon as the security situation stabilizes.

In response to queries, the Executive Secretary stated that intergovernmental meetings would be held at their scheduled time, particularly the Seventh Session of the Committee on Statistics in November and the Sixth Session of the Committee on Energy in December. She commended the position of the Lebanese authorities that had insisted on keeping the United Nations and UNESCWA in Beirut following the attack last Sunday on the UN House and highlighted the awareness of the Lebanese people despite the difficult circumstances they are facing.

On another note, UNESCWA is participating in a number of major regional conferences as planned earlier in the context of its continued activities and programmes.