30 October 2015, Geneva, Switzerland – UNITAR and the University of Newcastle (UoN) with the support of the City Government of Newcastle in Australia signed a partnership agreement to establish an “International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders (CIFAL)” in the city of Newcastle with the aim to provide training to government authorities from Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. UN Assistant Secretary General and UNITAR Executive Director Nikhil Seth, University of Newcastle President and Vice-Chancellor Caroline McMillen, and Lord Mayor of Newcastle Councilor Nuatali Nelmes signed the partnership agreement.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon announced today the appointment of Nikhil Seth of India as Executive Director of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). He will succeed Sally Fegan-Wyles of Ireland, to whom the Secretary-General expressed his utmost gratitude for her dedication and commitment to the United Nations.

30 March - 2 April 2011, Jeju, Republic of Korea. CIFAL Jeju convened over ten country delegations in Jeju Self-Governing Province, for its first training of a series to build local government capacities on priority Human Security issues in the Asia-Pacific Region. Part of UNITAR's global network of nine CIFAL training centres for local development, CIFAL Jeju's mandate is to develop knowledge and skills among regional local governments on this theme.

The second edition of the annual Retreat convened by the United Nations Secretary-General took place in Torino, Italy, on 29 and 30 August 2008. The Retreat provides an opportunity for top UN officials to exchange ideas and reflect on how best the Organization can tackle current challenges and discharge its high profile responsibilities more effectively. The annual event has been organized as a joint effort between UNITAR, the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC), and the Department of Management in the UN Secretariat.