M'SIA BECOMES FIRST COUNTRY TO CONTRIBUTE TO UN FELLOWSHIP FUND

By Manik Mehta

NEW YORK, Feb 2 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is the first country to make a
financial contribution to the newly-established "Fellowship Fund" created by the
the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

UNITAR is the main training arm of the United Nations (UN).

UN sources hailed the US$100,000 contribution as a "symbolic and timely
gesture" in the spirit of South-South cooperation.

They also said the contribution would ensure access of diplomats from the
least developed and developing countries to the Core Diplomatic Training (CDT)
courses.

Since 1965, UNITAR has been implementing a comprehensive training curriculum
for diplomats in New York, Geneva and elsewhere on topics ranging from
informational sessions on the main UN bodies, workshops on election procedures,
or UN reforms, to courses on negotiation, resolution drafting and public
speaking at the UN.

UNITAR maintains that its new business model launched in 2011, based on a
cost-recovery fee-based system, envisaged the establishment of a Fellowship
Fund to give diplomats from the least developed and developing countries an
opportunity to benefit from its training curriculum.

Hamidon Ali, Malaysia’s permanent representative to the United
Nations, told Bernama at his New York office, that the contribution underscored
the country's commitment to continued learning and education within the UN
context.

"This is for more effective multilateral negotiations and to ensure that
diplomats from the developing countries can benefit from the UNITAR courses," he
said.

"We decided to do this (contribute the money) as we also stand to benefit
from the training," he added.

According to Hamidon, UNITAR, which is cash strapped and does not receive a
budget from the UN, will not require Malaysian trainees to pay any fees as "we
are paying upfront".

He also pointed out that education is an important priority for
Malaysia which allocates about 20 per cent of its budget to promoting it in the
country.

"Thus, if you look at it from that perspective, this would also be in
keeping with our policy to promote education," he said.

UNITAR hopes that other countries would emulate Malaysia’s example in making
contributions to the training programme.

Malaysia recently completed its one-year term as President of the UN
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Hamidon, represented Malaysia as the ECOSOC president.

Reflecting on the presidency, he said:"We tried to innovate and make the
term more interesting. Last year, we had gender equality as the theme, and this
generated a lot of interest.

"We looked at rural women’s issues and organised a philantropic event for
women. Also,a UN Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) event in March,
managed to get good participation from the World Bank and the IMF (International
Monetary Fund)," he highlighted.

"We also had a retreat and looked at the General Assembly Resolution 61/16
on strengthening the ECOSOC.

"This resolution provides for a review after five years, which will be in
2011.Thus, the retreat was helpful in finding solutions for ECOSOC," he said.