World Report on Regional Integration, Volume I - Multilateralism, Regionalism and Bilateralism in Trade and Investment

“World Report on Regional Integration, Volume I – Multilateralism, Regionalism and Bilateralism in Trade and Investment”

April 9th 2008 | 3:00 - 5:30 pm

Conference Room 8, UN Headquarters, New York

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United Nations University (UNU) Office in New York in collaboration with UNU Programme on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS)

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The initiative to launch a World Report on Regional Integration, by UNU-CRIS, can be viewed as a response to the booming phenomenon which is regional integration. Not only is the national governance level unable to adequately address the many challenges of today’s world, a multilateral system also needs some form of regional organization to build on in order to work.

In recognition of this reality the World Report on Regional Integration aims at monitoring trends and prospects for regional governance and the topic of the first volume is “Multilateralism, Regionalism and Bilateralism in Trade and Investment”. By bringing together insights from different parts of the UN system, in particular the five UN regional economic commissions and UNCTAD, the report will contribute to a better understanding of the interaction between different levels of governance and the role of regions in the UN.

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Discussion panelists include:

Philippe de Lombaerde, Research fellow, UNU-CRIS

Khalilur Rahman, Special Adviser, UNCTAD

Amr Nour, Officer-in-Charge, Regional Commissions New York Office

H.E. Lila Hanitra Ratsifandrihamanana, Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations