OREANDA-NEWS. July 1, 2008. The annual substantive session of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) began its work on June 30 in New York.

In the course of the session the most topical issues on the international socioeconomic agenda are going to be examined, particularly in the context of a global food crisis and instability in world financial markets.

In the framework of the high-level segment, a Ministerial Review of the progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the area of sustainable development will be held, including questions of rural and agribusiness development, bioenergy and climate change.

One of the session’s key elements will be the first full-scale high-level Development Cooperation Forum (DCF), which is meant to provide a platform for discussing a broad range of issues connected with reinforcing and enhancing the effectiveness of international development assistance.

We expect that the session will contribute to bolstering the potential and authority of the UN in tackling vital socioeconomic, humanitarian and environmental tasks. The decisions made at its end should impart additional impulse to international efforts in the effective realization of the global development agenda and make for the success of this year’s High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (Accra, September 2-4), UN General Assembly High-Level Review Meeting on the MDGs (New York, September 25), and Global Review Conference on Financing for Development (Doha, November 29-December 2).

At the end of the ministerial segment, which will last a week, it is planned to adopt a declaration on key issues of economic and social development. The ECOSOC session will last until July 25. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yakovenko heads the Russian delegation.