Delegations from 55 countries took part in the 22nd Moscow International Book Fair, which had been the most representative and the biggest forum in Russia for general public and expert community.

The exhibit’s organizers put on display more than 200,000 publications in dozens of languages at the Russian State Exhibition Centre in Moscow from 2 to 7 September 2009. 

As in the past few years, the event was organized by the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Moscow in partnership with the UN Country Team, including joined forces from the following agencies, such as ILO, UNDP, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNHCHR, UNODC, WHO, WFP and World Bank.

According to the UNIC librarian Julia Vlassova, who coordinated the project and spent 6 days at the UNIC’s common stand, the impact of Centre’s joint effort was considerable. It enabled the UN Country Team to effectively promote UN publications amid the publishing community and the average Russians, emphasizing such issues as MDGs-related problems in the Russian Federation, situation of persons with disabilities and human rights. 

UNIC’s two stands (common and human rghts-related) were among the most popular booths at the Fair, where the UN materials were disseminated. More than 7,000 visitors showed up at the exposition.

As a result, collectively UNIC distributed about 18,000 copies of UN publications, booklets and posters. That demonstrated once again that the UN views and concepts were in real demand amongst the local public.

The next Moscow International Book Fair to take place from 1 - 6 September 2010. 

On 24 July 2009 Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan received UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative in Armenia Consuelo Vidal. Heads of UN Agencies and Programmes in Armenia were also present at the meeting.
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, on behalf of the Government of Armenia, and Consuelo Vidal, on behalf of the United Nations, signed a programme of cooperation, which presents the strategic directions of the UN activities in Armenia during the upcoming 6 years.

The 2010-2015 programme of cooperation has been developed in line with the main national development priorities outlined in the Sustainable Development Programme, taking also into consideration the impact of current financial and economic crisis.

With a budget of around 72 million USD, the 2010-2015 programme of cooperation, also known as the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), will address issues in the areas of poverty reduction, democratic governance, basic social services, environmental management and disaster risk reduction.

After the signing ceremony, a joint press conference of Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and UN RC/UNDP RR Consuelo Vidal took place. PM Tigran Sargsyan, highly appreciating the activities of the United Nations in Armenia, noted that implemented projects are in line with the logic and content of government programmes. The first direction focuses on inclusive and sustainable growth, and part of the resources will be directed for the implementation of sustainable development projects.

The next priority is equitable access to basic social services, being followed by development of democratic institutions in Armenia, and environment and disaster risk reduction.
“It is very important that UN programmes focus on reduction of disparities in the regions and communities of Armenia, and community development projects have their important place in the 2010-2015 cooperation framework. These are the main priorities, which are included in this programme, and we are convinced that this cooperation will have an essential impact on sustainable economic development of Armenia,” said the Head of the Government of Armenia, thanking for long-term and fruitful cooperation.

UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative in Armenia Consuelo Vidal, thanking for the government’s excellent cooperation with the UN in Armenia, noted that the new programme of cooperation is a result of productive consultations with the Government of Armenia and the civil society and aims to bring to Armenia international standards, best practices, technical and financial resources to promote and develop national capacities.

The programme implementation to be overseen jointly by the Government of Armenia and the UN system.

On 9 July 2009, the Director of the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Moscow participated in a Diploma awarding ceremony at the St. Petersburg School of Translation and Interpretation.
The school had been implemented jointly by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Commission, the UN Secretariat (on the basis of a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU) signed by Under-Secretary-General Muhammad Shaaban in August 2008) and the Herzen University. The MOU was a practice put into along the following lines: regularly master-classes by experienced UN language professionals, UN assistance in providing information resources, training at UN HQ in New York and UN Offices in Geneva and Vienna, video-conferencing.
The UNIC Moscow had maintained increasingly close ties with the School over the last two years. In 2009, all trainees participated in the remote translation practice at the Centre. It was decided during the Director's stay in St. Petersburg that one of the graduates of the School's First Course 2008-2009 will join the UNIC Moscow as translator next fall.
The School currently became a member of the consortium of UN graduate schools of interpretation and translation. Its teachers' limited exposure to specific features of UN texts and UN interpretation/translation standards had being addressed. In May 2009, its teachers took a test conducted by Verbatim Section of the UN Secretariat in New York. Currently, four graduates were taking tests at UN HQ for possible fixed-term contracts. Experienced UN language professionals, Kirill Speransky (Chief, Russian Translation Service, DGACM) and Sergei Mikhelev, Chief, Russian Booth Interpretation Section, UNOV, were among protagonists at the Diploma awarding ceremony, but also supervised the final examination and monitored entrance exams for the School's second year.
In his public remarks at the ceremony the UNIC Director stressed multilingualism as one of the core principles of the UN, and the importance of translation and interpretation functions for promotion of the information society. He also took an active part in the discussions of the results of the first academic year and prospects for the School's development.
In the coming academic year the UNIC Moscow planed to further strengthen their already close ties with the School.

As the lead agency of the United Nations Communications Group in Iran, the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Tehran, with the assistance of UN agencies operating in Tehran, organized an information booth during the 22nd Tehran International Book Fair held from 6 to 16 May 2009. A large number of people visited the UN booth where UN information materials, including books, reports, pamphlets, flyers, CDs and posters were displayed and distributed to those who came to the booth.

According to authorities, this year approximately 5.5 million people visited the fair. The agencies represented in the UN booth were UNIC Tehran, Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, World Health Organization, United Nations Children's Fund, United Nations Population Fund, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, UNAIDS, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, World Food Programme, UN Office on Drugs and Crime, UN Development Programme, UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and International Organization for Migration.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated the fair on 5 May. The Parliament (Majlis) speaker Dr. Ali Larijani, attended the closing session.