UNITAR has partnered with OECD and the government of Egypt to lead the debate on the potential of smart and innovative partnerships under MDG8 to accelerate overall progress on MDGs to meet the 2015 deadline. While Heads of State will gather for the first day of the MDG+10 Summit at the UN Headquarters in New York, the side-event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the UN premises in Conference Room 5.

"Smarter partnerships in a complex world: the potential of MDG 8"
20 September, 10 am – 2:30 pm, Conference Room 5, North Lawn Building, UN Headquarters“

“Reduce the fear of migration by 50% until 2015”. Could this be a migration related Millennium Development Goal (MDG)?  While it seems rather unlikely that the international community will agree on international targets when it comes to migration in the near future, it is clear that human mobility and the achievement of the MDGs are related.

This September 4 2010, UNITAR became the newest UN institution to become a member of UN Water during the coordinating platform’s thirteenth meeting.  Joining the platform will provide UNITAR with the opportunity to coordinate its capacity development, research and training activities on water and sanitation with other UN institutions as well as add value to the platform in a number of ways.

 In 2007, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) and UNITAR agreed to launch a joint e-Learning initiative in the area of economic development and trade in order to better meet the urgent capacity development needs of French-speaking developing countries. The first joint online course was held in April 2007 and generated a thundering response with over 1,000 nominations submitted for 125 seats in the course.

Carlos Fuentes, world renowned Mexican writer, and Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Turkish scholar and Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, are the guest speakers of the next edition of the Geneva Lecture Series to take place on 16 September 2010, at the Palais des Nations. This 5th lecture followed by an open debate with the Geneva public will focus on the following subject: “Building bridges: intercultural dialogue, identities and migration”.