On 25 June, UNU-WIDER and UNU-ONY collaborated with the UN Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA) and Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (OHRLLS) to hold a side event in conjunction with the UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development. This side event, held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, was entitled “Recovering from the Global Crisis: Towards an Action Plan for Africa and the Least Developed Countries”.

Speakers and panellists during the side event at the United Nations Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development, 25 June 2009.

The keynote address at the side event, given by H.E. Ms. Asha-Rose Migiro (United Nations Deputy Secretary General, was followed by statements from Mr. Cheick Sidi Diarra (United Nations Under-Secretary General and Special Advisor on Africa and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States) and H.E. Dr. Dipu Moni (Minister for Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh).

Wim Naudé, Senior Research Fellow at UNU-WIDER, delivered a background paper (co-authored with Augustin Fosu) on “The Global Economic Crisis: Towards Syndrome-Free Recovery for Africa”. This was followed by a panel session that included Mr. Alexander Aboagye (Senior Economic Adviser, UNDP), Mr. Stephen Groff (OECD), Mr. Alhaji Bamanga Tukur (Chairman of the African Business Roundtable) and Mr. Roger Nord (IMF).

The background paper, as well as presentations and statements from this event are available online, as is information on other UNU work related to the global economic crisis.

On the occasion of this event, the UNU also put together a “UNU Conversation Series” multimedia intellectual forum on the economic crisis. The objective was to bring clarity to some of the key issues at the centre of the economic crisis, and to explain what is at stake and what should be done to overcome the problems that we currently face.  participants included important intellectual and policy voices from around the globe.