Executive Director of UNITAR Nikhil Seth Visits New York Office 

9 February 2018, New York City, U.S.A – The United Nations Institute of Trainings and Research (UNITAR) New York Office welcomed the visit of the Executive Director of UNITAR, Mr. Nikhil Seth, on Monday 5 of February 2018. During the 5-day-visit, Mr. Nikhil Seth has met with several higher officials from different UN Departments, UN agencies, and social sectors. The visit was fruitful, and it has created a positive, long-term impact on the fulfillment of 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), as well as, the capacity building programs and training activities.

Our Executive Director has met with the Deputy Secretary-General (DSG) of UN, Ms. Amina J. Mohammed on Tuesday, 6 February. Both parties agreed that the success of international peace and security requires the efforts of multiple parties.

UNITAR is more than willing to engage with member states and provide training for leaders to increase their understandings of the key factors to peace. During his visit, he also met with Chef de Cabinet H.E. Maria Luiza Viotti on Friday, 9 February before he left New York.

Mr. Seth met with the Under-Secretary-General (USG) for Economic and Social Affairs Mr. Liu Zhenmin. Mr. Liu Zhenmin, with his ample experience on advising the Secretary-General on the three pillars of sustainable development, emphasized the importance of strengthening public administration and nurturing key partnerships with governments, UN agencies, and civil society organizations. During the meeting, it was agreed with Mr. Liu Zhenmin and expressed the willingness of maintaining a long-term relationship with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) in order to better achieve the sustainable development goals.

On Wednesday, 7 February, he addressed with the Under-Secretary-General (USG) of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office, Mr. Vladimir Ivanovich Voronkov. Mr. Vladimir Ivanovich Voronkov explained the rigorous counter-terrorism situation in the international society today. UNITAR will be hosting related courses, along with the specialists from the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office, to mitigate the conflicts and increase the capacity of member states to engage in the counter-terrorism activities. He then talked with Ms. Michelle Gyles-McDonnough from the Sustainable Development Unit, Executive Office of the Secretary-General. Both parties have exchanged the ideas and expressed their determinations on achieving Sustainable Development Goals through actions.

In addition, Mr. Seth visited two Permanent Representatives from the Permanent Mission of India and the Permanent Mission of Switzerland respectively. The meeting with the Permanent Representative of the Mission of India, Ambassador H.E. Syed Akbaruddin, has strengthened the relations between the Mission of India and UNITAR. Mr. Nikhil Seth’s meeting with Ambassador H.E. Mr. Lauber Jürg, the Permanent Representative of the Mission of Switzerland, was also extremely efficient and successful. UNITAR has always been a partnership with the Mission of Switzerland. Ambassador H.E. Lauber Jürg expressed his passions and interests on the new programs – particularly the programs related to migration and the United Nations budget system. Through this productive meeting, two parties have confirmed their intentions on their further collaborations in the near future.

The meeting with the Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) for Political Affairs in the Department of Political Affairs (DPA), Mr. Tayé-Brook Zerihoun has mentioned several on-going and upcoming collaborations and events. The meeting has mentioned the fellowship programme between UNITAR and the International Peace Institute (IPI): 2018 UNITAR-IPI Fellowship Programme in Peacemaking and Preventive Diplomacy, and the upcoming regional training programs in Philippines and Addis Ababa: 2018 Regional Training Programme in Peacemaking and Preventive Diplomacy for the Asia-Pacific and Africa Regional Training on Peacemaking and Conflict Prevention. Mr. Tayé-Brook Zerihoun mentioned the severe challenges peacekeeping is facing today. With the related courses on peacebuilding and peacekeeping being held in UNITAR, both UNITAR and DPA are looking forward to raising awareness on this specific issue among UN members.

On Thursday 8 of February, Mr. Nikhil Seth has attended the Conference for International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The theme of this year is Equality and Parity in Science for Peace and Development. Mr. Nikhil Seth was the moderator for the high-level panel on the Equality and Parity in Science Policy Interface for Sustainable Development. Mr. Nikhil Seth actively promoted gender equality during the panel. He firmly believes that gender equality is needed not only in the field of science but in all the social sectors.

During the meeting with Director of the Division for Sustainable Development, Mr. Juwang Zhu, both parties focused on the further development of SDG Learning Center. Co-organizing by UNDESA and UNITAR, SDGs Learning, Training and Practice Center has provided a platform to effectively begin the implementation of agenda 2030. Both parties realized the importance of access to the knowledge and information for the policymakers and community leaders. In order to inspire leaders to design well-informed and effective policies and strategies, UNITAR and UNDESA will keep facilitating the SDGs Learning Center in the future. Later in the visit, Mr. Nikhil Seth had an in-depth conversation with the CEO & Executive Director of UN Global Compact on Friday, 9 of February. UNITAR has always been actively engaging with Global Compact members on the provision of training and skills development services for their staff and supply chains on climate change, SDG, and the Green Economy. During the meeting, UNITAR confirmed that it will keep providing internal learning resources and forums to maintain a continuous, and effective dialogues. Mr. Nikhil Seth has received an interview with Turkish Journalist Asligul Cebi.

The visit has been successful. Different UN Departments have expressed their confidence, expectation, and intention to cooperate with UNITAR. In the future, UNITAR will facilitate the communications between different global office, keep developing the capacities of member states and UN delegates through its courses and eventually, achieve the 2030 Agenda.

Summary of the Main Discussed Topics:

• Deputy Secretary-General (DSG): emphasized the coordination of harmonizing with other training entities. UNITAR, as a manual for human capacity building, reinsures all the training entities are following a harmonious template.
• Chef de Cabinet: discussed the program co-hosted with the Evaluators’ Institute within the Claremont Graduate School over the meeting: UN Staffs’ monitoring and evaluation of capacity building.
• Under-Secretary-General (USG) for Economic and Social Affairs: The meeting explored the common project and divisions that UNITAR and UNDESA were focusing on include: Statistics division, sustainable division, public administration division. Plan for action will be presented for considerations and in the near future, the collaboration will be followed up with the UNITAR New York Office.
• Under-Secretary-General (USG) of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office: In order to participate in the global compact on counter-terrorism, UNITAR will perform as an engine for human capacity building and a provider for related training. 

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