Workshop on LDC graduation in Myanmar

Briefing focused on capacity building for greater use of trade-related international support measures for LDCs

Workshop aimed to address the issue of finding and using financial resources to close the graduation “gap”

The annual UN/DESA Expert Group Meeting on the World Economy (also known as the Project LINK Meeting) starts today in New York and will lead off with a discussion on the world economic outlook facilitated by Peter H. Pauly, Vice-Dean and Professor of Economics at the University of Toronto; Juan Francisco Yepez-Albornoz of the International Monetary Fund; Marc Stocker of the World Bank, and Pingfan Hong, Director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division in UN/DESA.

Staffmembers from across DESA and other UN offices and agencies convened their first expert group meeting on 16 October in New York, to discuss the sketches of the five chapters that will comprise the 2015 World Economic and Social Survey (WESS).

• Sharp appreciation of the U.S. dollar
• Western European economy continues to struggle
• Ebola takes severe tolls in West Africa

The MDG Gap Task Force Report 2014: The State of the Global Partnership for Development was launched today, Thursday, 18 September 2014, in a press briefing at 11 am EST featuring Wu Hongbo, Under Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Thomas Gass, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, Magdy Martinez Soliman, Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations Development Programme and Pingfan Hong, Director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division, UN/DESA. The recorded press briefing can be viewed below.

Dr. Ha-Joon Chang, Faculty of Economics at University of Cambridge, was the featured speaker at the Development Policy Seminar held at the UN Headquarters today. Speaking on his most recent book, Economics: The User's Guide, Dr. Chang introduced a wide range of economic theories, from neo-classical to Schumpetarian, revealing their strengths and weaknesses and demonstrating why there is no one way to explain economic behaviour.

Pingfan Hong was appointed Director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division (DPAD) effective 1 July 2014.