These officials, all of whom have the rank of United Nations Under-Secretary Generals, work directly under UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Their comments focused on the advantages and disadvantages of bilateral and regional agreements compared to multilateral or global initiatives being applied in different regions around the world.

The meeting was chaired by ECLAC Executive Secretary José Luis Machinea, who spoke on the concept of "open regionalism" put forward by ECLAC in recent decades, which encourages the creation of regional integration agreements, within a context of opening up to the rest of the world. He said, however, that in recent years this method has stagnated and the number of bilateral initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean has risen.

Machinea insisted on the need to emphasize multilateralism, both from the economic and the social perspective, and added that this should be one of the main tasks of the United Nations' regional commissions. "Bilateral agreements should serve as building blocks to achieve a more general multilateralism, and not as substitutes for it," he said.

He added that regional agreements, including a successful, comprehensive hemispheric agreement, would strengthen regional alliances for multilateral negotiations.

For her part, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), Brigita Schmögnerová, spoke on Europe's experience with multilateralism, adding that in this continent the creation of regional integration agreements has met with enormous success. "Agreements have had a positive effect on trade and have also served as a powerful engine for reforms and development," she added.

She expanded on the concept of regionalism or "regionalization", which she saw as more prevalent than globalization-oriented initiatives, in the European context. "Regionalism is an input into multilateralism, which has many more implications than mere trade," she added.

The Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Hak-Su Kim, spoke on the reasons behind the current strong Chinese economy and how this giant is influencing the economies of the Asia Pacific. According to Kim, since Deng Xiao-Ping took power, China has been involved in a profound social and economic transformation. Its leaders have focused on developing the areas where reforms were applied, and today China is a completely market-oriented country. "China is no longer a socialist or communist economy. It is pure market," he said.

According to Kim, although the impact of China's rapid economic development has been felt throughout the developing world, the countries near the Asian giant have not been particularly concerned about its overwhelming advance, nor do they see it as a threat. Rather it represents an opportunity for them to carry out more and better business.

For his part, Cornelius Mwalwanda, Senior Economic Affairs Officer to the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Geneva, representing the Executive Secretary of that body, Kingsley Yeboah Amoako, spoke about the genesis and prospects for the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), an initiative that arose in opposition to the "Washington Consensus" to encourage the development of African countries. According to Mwalwanda, The NEPAD has agreed on an action programme that seeks to generate sustainable development, based on the fundamental principles of peace and security, governance, regional integration and capacity building.

Finally, the Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), Mervat Tallawy, spoke about the impact of political instability in some countries, particularly the Middle East, on development. "Political instability is the enemy of development," she stated. "Political instability does not generate investment, which in turn restricts economic growth, which could reduce unemployment in countries."

She highlighted the role played by the UN's regional commissions at the local level in each region, since they contribute regional experts familiar with the region's reality to countries, who can provide recommendations closely tailored to existing needs.

For more information, please contact Gerardo Mendoza, in ECLAC's Office of the Executive Secretary. E-mail: gmendozaeclac.cl  eclac.cl>; Tel: (56-2) 210-2300. Details on the activities of regional commissions and the biographies of their Executive Secretaries can be found at their respective websites, which can be reached through the ECLAC portal, at this link.