International Trade Center (ITC) The ITC is the focal point of the United Nations for technical cooperation in trade promotion. A joint subsidiary organ of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization (WTO), the ITC works with developing countries and economies in transition-especially their business sectors— to set up effective trade promotion programs for expanding their exports and improving their import operations. Headquarters operations are funded jointly by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the WTO. Technical cooperation programs are funded by the UN Development Program (UNDP) and by voluntary contributions from governments and organizations. ITC headquarters are in Geneva. Since 1994 the ITC has been involved in a program to better focus the Center's work program to assist the neediest countries, primarily in Africa. One product of the ITC's orientation is the WTO/UNCTAD/ITC Joint Integrated Technical Assistance Program in Selected Least-Developed and Other African Countries (JITAP). JITAP was launched in March 1998 and now supports projects in Tunisia and seven sub-Saharan countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Thirteen donors contribute to its funding, which currently amounts to $10 million. In addition, the ITC is responsible for supporting an administrative unit that coordinates the Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance to Least Developed Countries, which was established by the High-Level Meeting of the WTO, UNCTAD, ITC, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and the UN Development Program in late 1997. UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural The election of career Japanese diplomat Koichiro Matsuura as Director General to succeed Spanish biochemist Federico Mayor Zaragoza was the major development at UNESCO during 1999. Mayor had served since 1987. The United States maintains official observer status at UNESCO and continues to believe that UNESCO has largely addressed the issues that led to U.S. withdrawal from the organization in 1984. Budget issues, however, impeded reentry during 1999. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright summed up current U.S. Government policy toward UNESCO in a farewell letter to outgoing Director General Zaragoza: "UNESCO is an organization whose values we share, whose work we encourage, and whose ranks we expect to rejoin." The overall goal of U.S. participation in UNESCO's activities during 1999 was to work, in a manner consistent with observer status, to protect and promote U.S. interests in the organization. As a nonmember state, the United States paid no assessed contribution, but provided approximately $2.25 million in voluntary contributions to selected UNESCO programs. These priority programs seek to: promote and vigorously defend the free flow of ideas; open access to education for all; build understanding of democratic principles and practice; transfer scientific knowledge and construct infrastructures necessary to that end; and protect the cultural and natural heritage. During 1999, the United States attended the 156th and 157th sessions of the UNESCO Executive Board, the 30th session of the General Conference, the World Conference on Science, and a number of other important UNESCO meetings. The 30th session of the General Conference was the first in the organization's history to adopt a budget at exactly the same level as the previous biennium (zero nominal growth). The 156th Executive Board took the significant and potentially far-reaching reform action of prohibiting its members from entering into any contractual relationship with UNESCO “until 18 months have elapsed from the date of cessation of their representative functions." The President of the National Academy of Sciences, three American Nobel Laureates, the Board Chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and other prominent U.S. scientists and officials represented the United States at the World Conference on Science (Budapest, June 26-July 1). The Conference provided an occasion to project U.S. values and U.S. approaches to key scientific issues, especially those of global import; to emphasize the role of free inquiry and fundamental research; to promote the concept of the global citizen-scientist; to emphasize the need for sound primary and secondary science education; and to support access to careers in science for women and underrepresented groups worldwide. The United States played a significant role also in the work of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, the Intergovernmental Committee for the Return of Cultural Property, and the World Heritage Committee (WHC). At the third Extraordinary Session of the WHC (Paris, July 12), the United States—as a state party to the Convention— helped broker a resolution of a controversial issue related to uranium mining in the Kakadu National Park (Australia). The United States worked behind the scenes to help the WHC maintain respect for national sover eignty and the Convention's integrity, while at the same time encouraging the Government of Australia to take necessary measures to ensure the protection of the national park. It also participated actively in the Committee's 23rd regular session in Marrakech. Total membership grew to 188 sovereign states during 1999 with the accession of the Republic of Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia to membership. Universal Postal Union (UPU) The UPU, with headquarters in Bern, Switzerland, exists to facilitate international communications through the efficient operations of postal services across borders. The United States has been a member of the UPU since its founding (as the General Postal Union) in 1874. The UPU now has 189 member states. During 1999, U.S. delegations attended the UPU Postal Congress (Beijing, China), three meetings of the 40-member Postal Operations Council (in Beijing and Bern), two meetings of the 41-member Council of Administration (in Beijing and Bern), and one meeting of the newly formed High Level Group on the Future Development of the UPU. Representatives of the U.S. Postal Service also led and participated in numerous UPU working groups during the year, sharing U.S. expertise on postal issues with other countries. The UPU Council of Administration approved a budget for 2000 of 34.6 million Swiss francs (approximately $21.8 million). This amount represented the fourth year of zero nominal growth (ZNG) in the organization's budget. The United States, which contributes 5.5 percent of the UPU's regular budget, strongly supported a ZNG budget. The Beijing Congress. The UPU Congress meets every five years to review and revise its conventions, regulations, and other agreements. In August and September of 1999 the UPU Congress met in Beijing. Legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in 1998 had given the Department of State primary responsibility for U.S. participation in the UPU. Previously, this had been the responsibility of the U.S. Postal Service. In implementation of this role, Ambassador E. Michael Southwick led the U.S. delegation at the Beijing Congress and strongly promoted reform in the UPU, including openness, transparency, and recognition by the UPU of the vast and significant changes under way in international communications and in the postal and delivery sectors. As part of its effort to broaden stakeholder representation at the UPU, the Department of State included private sector representatives on the U.S. delegation to the Beijing Congress. It was the first time that private sector individuals had been included on a U.S. delegation to the UPU, and the U.S. delegation was the only one in Beijing to be so constituted. In response to a U.S. proposal to establish a reform process, the Beijing Congress agreed to set up a High Level Working Group on the Future Development of the UPU to consider UPU reform and report back to the UPU's Council of Administration in 2001. The High Level Group (made up of 24 UPU member states) met for the first time in December 1999 in Bern. In contrast to the often contentious atmosphere of the Beijing Congress on reform, the December meeting in Bern was productive and reflected a greater sense among virtually all participants of the inevitability of change in the postal sector and of the need for UPU reform. The Beijing Congress also approved a U.S. proposal to create a new Advisory Group that would permit private sector stakeholders in the postal business to share their views with UPU staff and member states. The Congress reelected Thomas E. Leavey (U.S.) to a second five-year term as Director General. The United States was elected to five-year terms on the Postal Operations Council and the Council of Administration, as well as to a seat on the new High Level Group. The Congress approved the Beijing Postal Strategy to govern general policy over the next five years. The Beijing Congress also approved a compromise, transitional two-tier "terminal dues" arrangement governing how much one country reimburses another for postal delivery services. The agreement provides for lower rates to developing countries and establishes a special fund for them to improve quality of service. The U.S. and other delegations made clear their view that the terminal dues arrangement should eventually move to a nondiscriminatory cost-based system. World Bank Group The World Bank Group (the Bank) is composed of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), established in 1945, International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, International Finance Corporation (IFC), established in 1956, and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), established in 1988. From their creation through June 30, 1999, the IBRD and IDA have provided more than $454 billion in loans, either at near-commercial terms (IBRD) or at concessional terms (IDA), for development projects and to support economic reform in developing countries. During the Bank's 1999 fiscal year (ending June 30), 181 nations were IBRD members, 160 belonged to the IDA, 174 were members of the IFC, and 149 were members of MIGA. The United States remains the Bank's largest shareholder, owning 17 percent of shares in the IBRD, 15 percent of IDA, 24 percent of the IFC, and 16 percent of MIGA. Cooperation between the Bank and the United Nations has been in place since the founding of the two organizations and focuses on economic and social areas of mutual concern such as reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development, and investing in people. James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank since 1996, has emphasized improved cooperation as part of broad reform programs at the Bank and the United Nations. The Bank has links with the United Nations at the policy-making level in the work of the General Assembly and its committees and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). ECOSOC members recently participated in an exchange of dialogue on development issues with the Bank's Executive Directors and such bodies as the Administrative Committee on Coordination. At the executive level, the Bank President and the Secretary General (and heads of UN programs, specialized agencies, and commissions) engage in an ongoing dialogue on issues such as poverty eradication, capacity building in Africa, humanitarian and post-conflict issues, human rights, HIV/AIDS, gender issues and women and development, governance and civil society, and financing for develop ment. At the institutional level, the two organizations have been working together to improve cooperation at the country level through better policy coordination, project implementation, cofinancing, and aid coordination. The Bank's proposed establishment of the Global Trust Fund for grant technical assistance has led to closer collaboration with the UN Development Program to define the respective, complementary roles of the Bank and the United Nations in development. The Bank is one of six cosponsors of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, contributing over $800 million so far in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The Bank's partnership with the World Food Program links their food-for-work community infrastructure programs to Bank follow-up investments. The Bank has a Memorandum of Understanding with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees covering operations in post-conflict areas. In addition, there is Bank-World Health Organization (WHO) cooperation on WHO's "Roll Back Malaria" campaign. The Bank is a major financier for the UN Special Initiative for Africa, and is cooperating with the Food and Agriculture Organization on a special food security program in Africa. At the operational level, there are hundreds of projects that are jointly financed and/or implemented by the Bank and the UN agencies in agriculture, industry, health, and education. World Health Organization (WHO) The WHO, based in Geneva, was established in 1948 with the objective of "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health." After 51 years of activity, WHO was working in 1999 in close partnership with 191 member states and 2 associate members, many inter |