New York-Beirut,30 July (United Nations Information Centre)--United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced today the appointment of Mr. Bader Al-Dafa of Qatar as Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).

Mr. Al-Dafa has recently served as Ambassador of Qatar to the United States and Permanent Observer to the Organization of American States (OAS. In this capacity,he played a special role in promoting access to education and the arts in the Arab-American community and among other minority populations in the United States.

Under the joint patronage of the League of Arab States (LAS) and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the First Annual Arab Internet Governance Forum (IGF) will be hosted by the Kuwait Information Technology Society (KITS) on 9-11 October 2012, at the Regency Kuwait Hotel. The meeting will be held in collaboration with the Arab IGF Secretariat represented by the National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA) of Egypt, and is sponsored by a number of institutions, including Zain, Réseaux IP Européens (RIPE), ICANN and APTLD.

While over 2,000 data experts from more than 100 countries gathered at the United Nations World Data Forum 2018 in Dubai from 22 to 24 October to advance new data solutions, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) soft launched an innovative data portal to facilitate public access to useful data on the Arab region, a crucial step to enable change and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

By the end of 2011, online social network Facebook users reached 481 million, demanding an expansion in software industry, as mentioned in the Information Economy Report 2012 released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Entitled “The Software Industry and Developing Countries,” the Report was launched by ESCWA today 28 November 2012, at its Headquarters in Beirut.