The launch lecture on 1 September 2009 of UNCTAD's 2009 Trade and Development Report will feature "Responding to the Global Crisis and "Climate Change Mitigation and Development".

Keynote speaker Heiner Flassbeck is Director of the Division of Globalization and Development Strategies, UNCTAD and the principal author of The Trade and Development Report 2009. Details and more information about the lecture can be found here.

The event will focus on the global crisis and its impact on developing countries.  UNCTAD economists currently estimate that it will be virtually impossible for sub-Saharan African nations to achieve such United Nations Millennium Development Goals as halving extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. The report recommends increased development assistance and the granting of moratoria on debt for hard-hit developing countries to limit further damage and to prepare the way for eventual recovery.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development was established in 1964. UNCTAD promotes the development-friendly integration of developing countries into the world economy. It has evolved into an authoritative knowledge-based institution whose work aims to shape policy debates and thinking on development, with a particular focus on ensuring that domestic policies and international action are mutually supportive in bringing about sustainable development.   The Trade and Development Report 2009 is embargoed until 3 September 2009.

For more information and resources on the global economic and financial crisis, and how it is impacting people and their human rights, see CESR's resource page on the crisis.