UN Regional Coordination Mechanism Concludes Beirut Meeting

Beirut, 12 November 2010 (UN Information Service) — ESCWA Friday concluded its 14th Regional Coordination Mechanism (RCM) meeting for all UN agencies operating in the Arab region, which was held at the UN House in Beirut 11-12 November. The meeting, which was attended by regional directors and officials of UN agencies and offices, was inaugurated by Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, UN Deputy Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro, ESCWA Executive Secretary Rima Khalaf, and League of Arab States (LAS) Assistant Secretary-General for Social Affairs Sima Bahous. Participants issued a set of recommendations in a closing statement. They urged for developing a working arrangement between Youth and the RCM process including the League of Arab States, and for a shadow Arab Human Development report by youth. They also called for creating a taskforce on statistical coordination, comprising senior statistics officials, to identify key capacity-building challenges. They agreed to convene an annual joint meeting of the three thematic working groups on Millennium Development Goals, food security and climate change.