UNOSAT and the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) launch “Joint Analysis and Geographic Information for Crisis Response and Impact Assessment

7-8 May 2009

UNITAR Executive Director Carlos Lopes with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

 

On May 15, 2009 Mr. Luis Guzmán-Barrón Sobrevilla, Rector of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, and Mr. Carlos Lopes, Executive Director of UNITAR, signed a Memorandum of Understanding, which sets out the basis for the collaboration between the two institutions. 

As the new United States Administration defines its foreign policy priorities and partnerships, UNITAR is revamping its collaboration with the U.S. Administration by extending its expertise in sustained capacity development, expertise which has been welcomed as a “soft power” approach to international cooperation within the region and beyond.

 

The recently-held 2009 UNITAR Regional Training was organized in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Thirty eight mid and senior-level government officials, senior advisors to presidents and prime ministers, as well as African Union and UN peace operation staff on the continent took part. Participants engaged in conflict analysis, negotiation and mediation simulations. Case studies examined peacemaking processes in Somalia, Sudan and other regions.

As a transmission channel for new thinking within and beyond the UN, and as unique partners at the interface of policy and operational worlds, the seven UN Research and Training Institutes, namely INSTRAW, UNICRI, UNIDIR, UNITAR, UNRISD, UNSSC and

UNOSAT and UNICRI decided to formalise their collaboration in a recent exchange of letters.