Speaking at a training workshop on “Conference Diplomacy” today, UNESCWA Executive Secretary Mervat Tallawy said that civil society organizations and the media are a basic factor impacting multilateral negotiations and the diplomacy of international and regional conferences. She said some countries are weakened by the fact that information is kept from civil society organizations and media at a time when these institutions can play an effective role in stating the position of nations on major issues that have a direct impact on the livelihood of peoples.

The International Comparison Program (ICP) is a global statistical initiative aimed at estimating purchasing power parities (PPPs) that are used to convert gross domestic product (GDP) and its components from national currency denominations into common international currency units at equal price. Today, the ICP has become not only the largest international statistical program in the world, but also the most complex, involving 199 countries worldwide.

United Nations Under-Secretary-General and UN-ESCWA (Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia) Executive Secretary Mr. Bader Omar Al Dafa delivered today 12 December 2007, a presentation on “Strategies for Adaptation and Mitigation of Climate Change in the ESCWA Region”, in the side-event organized by the five regional commissions of the United Nations, during the conference on climate change the international organization on 3-14 December in Bali, Indonesia.