Beirut, 27 July 2007 (UN Information Services)-- On 30-31 July 2007, Cairo will host a workshop organized by UN-ESCWA on “Evaluation and Adaptation of Existing Water Visions and Forecasts for Shared Aquifer Management in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership Region (MEDA)”, which includes Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, and Palestine (Gaza and the West bank) at the Mena House Oberoi Hotel. Participants in the meeting, which will open at 10:00 am on Monday 30 July 2007, will be representatives of water management institutions in selected MEDA countries.

New York, Beirut, 13 August 2007 (United Nations Information Services)- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon administered today the oath of office to Ambassador Bader Al-Dafa, following the appointment of the latter as Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Beirut-based Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA). The swearing-in ceremony organized for the occasion was attended by Deputy Secretary-General, Asha-Rose Migiro, Chef de cabinet Vijay Nambiar, and senior UN officials.

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission of Western Asia (UN-ESCWA) and the Central Bank of Bahrain have joined hands to organize a key event on 5-6 September 2007 at the Manama Ritz Carlton Hotel.

Egyptian Minister of Transport Mohammad Mansour will be inaugurating the Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on International Multimodal Transport in the Western Asia region organized by UN-ESCWA (the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia) on 4-6 September 2007 at the Triumph Hotel, Heliopolis, Cairo.

The three-day meeting, which will open at 9:30 am on Tuesday, is intended to discuss the second draft of a proposed Agreement on International Multimodal Transport of Goods in the Arab Mashreq.