The tenth high-level meeting of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) with the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs), World Trade Organization (WTO) and UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) focused on good governance, developing countries’ participation in decision-making, effective use of trade and investment policies, and innovative means of financing for development.

Participants gathered at UN headquarters in New York, US, on 16 April 2007, also addressed developing countries’ market access, international economic, monetary and fiscal policies, and agricultural subsidies. Several speakers highlighted the contribution that their meeting would make in the preparations for ECOSOC’s first Annual Ministerial Review and Development Cooperation Forum in July and to the General Assembly’s High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development at the end of 2007, as well as the follow-up international conference on financing for development, to be held in Doha, Qatar, in 2008. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon highlighted that many of the forums that take crucial decisions about developing countries’ economic and social future were designed some 60 years ago and poorly reflect their need for a voice in decision making. He said that the launching of the Development Cooperation Forum should help improve international oversight of development assistance and encouraged the Bretton Woods institutions and the WTO to be active participants in that initiative.
Links to further information
ECOSOC Press Release, 16 April 2007
Website for the meeting