UNCTAD'S TRADE BOARD TO MEET ON GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 (Bernama) -- The United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development's governing Trade and Development Board (TDB) will meet this
September 14-25 in Geneva, beginning with a high-level discussion on "the global
economic crisis and the necessary policy response."

The annual opening day debate will give the TDB's 155 member States the
opportunity to review the genesis of the world recession, examine its effects,
and debate responses that could lessen the impact and prevent a recurrence.

Panellists for the Monday afternoon session will include Pedro Páez Pérez,
Chairman of the Ecuadorian Presidential Technical Commission for the New
Regional Financial Architecture; and M. Cyrille Pierre, Deputy Director of
Global Economic Issues Division, France, the world body said in a statement from
Geneva Tuesday.

Invited but not yet confirmed are the Minister of Finance of Egypt; the
Minister of Commerce of Cote d'Ivoire ; and the Head of the Monetary and
Economic Department of the Bank for International Settlements.

The afternoon of the second day of the TDB's annual two weeks of meetings
will feature the 14th Raul Prebisch lecture, to be given this year by Jeffrey
Sachs, economist and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University .

Prof. Sachs will speak on "Globalization in the Era of Environmental
Crisis."

Environmental matters also will be considered that morning as the Board
reviews "development strategies in a globalised world: meeting the development
challenge of climate change."

The UNCTAD XII quadrennial conference, held in Ghana in April 2008, assigned
UNCTAD the responsibility for the first time of assessing the relationships
between climate shifts and trade and development concerns.

An exhibition titled "UNCTAD 1964-2009: Milestones in Closing the
Development Gap," celebrating UNCTAD's 45th anniversary, will be staged during
the conference outside room XXVI of the Palais des Nations, where most TDB
sessions are held.

The financial and economic crisis, which has significantly affected the
economic growth and exports of developing countries, will play a role in several
agenda items, including "Evolution of the international trading system and
international trade from a development perspective: Impact of the Crisis" (Sept
16), for which the lead speaker will be World Trade Organization
Director-General Pascal Lamy.

Strengthening regional trade and economic links have repeatedly been
emphasized by UNCTAD economists as a way for developing nations to cushion the
impacts of the global downturn.

UNCTAD's World Investment Report 2009 will be launched on Sept 17, and on
the morning of September 22, member States will discuss the findings and the
theme of the report: "Investment for Development: Transnational corporations,
agricultural production, and development."

UNCTAD's annual report on its programme of assistance to the Palestinian
people, released Sept 8, will be debated during the Board's session on Sept
22.

This marks the 25th anniversary of the programme, and speakers will include
Bassim Khoury, Minister of National Economy of Palestine.

The TDB's annual hearing with civil society and the private sector on Sept
16 will look into the follow-up by UNCTAD and the international community on
efforts to respond to the economic crisis.

--BERNAMA