UNCTAD Panel of Eminent Persons convened in Helsinki

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) Panel of Eminent Persons convened in Helsinki on 7-8 June 2006 on the invitation of President of the Republic Tarja Halonen. The group was preparing its closing report and discussing follow-up measures at the two-day meeting. President Halonen belongs to this working group, which was established in autumn 2005 and tasked with developing new strategies for the organization aimed at heightening its impact. The Panel is expected to produce a report for the Secretary-General of UNCTAD after its meeting in Helsinki.

Eminent persons in the Yellow Room in the Presidential Palace.

The group consisting of eight people is be chaired by Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former President of Brazil. Other members are Benjamin Mkapa, former President of Tanzania, Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique, Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and former Director-General of the World Health Organization, Lawrence Summers, President of Harvard University and former US Treasury Secretary, Jagdish Bhagwati, Eminent Professor of Economics at Columbia University, and Long Yongtu, former Trade Representative of China.

UNCTAD has been established in 1964, and it’s the focal point of the United Nations for the integrated treatment of trade and development and interrelated issues in the areas of finance, technology, investment and sustainable development.