ECOSOC/6177
14 September 2005

High-Level Meeting of ECOSOC Bureau to Focus on Pushing UN Development Agenda Forward

NEW YORK, 13 September (UN Headquarters) -- The national leaders of the five-member Bureau of UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) will meet informally early on 15 September, to discuss means for forwarding the UN's development agenda, including decisions adopted at the World Summit, and the most useful role for ECOSOC to play.

The breakfast meeting of the ECOSOC Bureau at the level of Heads of State and Government, taking place 8:30 a.m.-10 a.m., 15 September, will be chaired by General Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan.  Besides the Heads of State/Government of the rest of the members of ECOSOC Bureau, other Heads of State and Government and senior ministerial representatives of ECOSOC member States confirmed their participation, chiefs of the Bretton Woods institutions and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), respectively, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and the Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

This informal, closed meeting takes place in the context of the World Summit, which is negotiating decisions on poverty, development and the role of ECOSOC.

For more information, contact Tim Wall of the UN Department of Public Information, tel: 1-212-963-5851.

List of Participants

Members of ECOSOC Bureau

General Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan and President of the Economic and Social Council

Mr. Alfred Moisiu, President of Albania

Mr. Alfredo Palacio, President of Ecuador

Mr. Guy Verhofstadt, Prime Minister of Belgium

Mr. Abdelwaheb Abdallah, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Tunisia

Other Invited Member States

Mr. Matthieu Kerekou President of Benin, on behalf of the least developed countries

Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo, President of Nigeria

Mr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam, Prime Minister of Mauritius, on behalf of the small island developing States

Mr. Percival James Patterson, Prime Minister of Jamaica, on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries

Mr. Somsavad Lengsavad, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Lao People's Democratic Republic, on behalf of the landlocked developing countries

Mr. Nobutaka Machimura, Foreign Minister of Japan

Mr. Kim Hyun-chong, Minister for Trade of the Republic of Korea

Ms. Josefina Vazquez, Minister of Social Development of Mexico

Ms. Margret Beckett, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of the United Kingdom.

Dr. Alexandre Yakovenko, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Russian Federation

Mr. Jiaxuan Tang, State Counsellor of China

Mr. Sichan Siv, Ambassador to the Economic and Social Council, Permanent Mission of the United States

Other

Mr. Louis Michel, Commissioner of Development and Humanitarian Aid, European Commission

Representatives of UN System

Mr. Jose Antonio Ocampo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs

Mr. Kemal Derviş, Administrator of the UNDP

Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary General of UNCTAD

Mr. Kim Hak-Su, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)

Bretton Woods Institutions

Mr. Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund

Mr. Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank

Mr. Kipkorir Aly Azad Rana, Deputy Director-General of the WTO

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