31 July 2011
The UN information Centre (UNIC) in Tehran organized a press conference on the launch of the United Nations Office on Drags and Crime (UNODC) study entitled “Global Afghan Opium Trade: A Threat Assessment” on 31 July 2011.
The Representative of UNODC in Iran, Antonino De Leo, said seaports in Iran and Pakistan have been seizing greater amounts of both exported heroin and imported acetic anhydride. He also stated that though Afghan heroin is only directly trafficked to Iran, Pakistan and Central Asia, it flows from there to the rest of the world.
The UNODC official said that Afghanistan remains by far the largest source of the global illicit trade in opium and heroin which sum is exceeding the GDP of many countries.
27 July 2011
The UNCTAD World Investment Report (WIR) 2011 was launched in Moscow on 26 July 2011.
Dr. Boris Heifets, professor of economy at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, presented the document to a mixed audience of representatives of the academia, research institutions, government agencies and the media – about 30 people.
The UNIC Moscow Director outlined the Report stressing that, in contrast to global industrial output and trade, which are back to pre-crisis levels, global FDI, according to UNCTAD, will recover to its previous level in 2011.
The floor was given to professor Heifets, who offered a general overview of WIR. He highlighted the Report’s observation that not only production and, recently, consumption shift internationally to transition and developing economies, but these states are growingly important as sources of investment outflows.
Then the floor was opened for discussion – mainly questions and answers, but opinions and comments were as well.
26 July 2011
More than 50 print media journalists and eight television channels – including Reuters and BBC World Service (TV) – attended the Media Launch of UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2011, organized by the UN Information Centre (UNIC) for India and Bhutan in New Delhi on 26 July.
Eminent policy experts Premila Nazareth Satyanand and Dr. Biswajit Dhar analyzed the report and also presented their recommendations for Indian policymakers. This was followed by an animated discussion on the conclusions of the report.
UNIC Director Kiran Mehra-Kerpelman welcomed the panelists and the media and moderated the discussion.
Introducing the Report UNIC Director explained that the theme of this year's World Investment Report was “Non-equity Modes of International Production and Development”. According to her: “The Report presents original, ahead-of-curve analyses on why and how non-equity modes (NEMs) such as contract manufacturing, services outsourcing, contract farming, franchising and licensing are increasingly used by Trans-National Corporations in managing their global value chains.
UNCTAD’s bottom line is that NEMs represent a highly significant “middle way” between FDI and trade which, among others, shapes patterns of international trade and trajectories of development.”
26 July 2011
On 26 July 2011, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) World Investment Report 2011 was launched in Romania by UN Information Centre (UNIC) in Bucharest, the representatives of the Romanian Foreign Trade Centre of the Ministry of Economy and the Foreign Investors' Council.
The 2011 edition of the Report focuses on the strategic use of non-equity modes by transnational corporations in their management of global value chains and international operations. In addition, the Report highlights a discussion of the interplay between foreign direct investment (FDI) and industrial policy, as well as an assessment of the origin, rise and global map of State-owned transnational corporations.