2019 (Journal)

The President of the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) welcomed nearly two years ago the appointment of Achim Steiner as the Organization’s new Administrator. UNDP then occupied still the central role in the UN development system. Today, former and current officials of UNDP see the possibility of Secretary-General António Guerres’s organizational reform may put UNDP as uncertain if not in peril.

Chef de Cabinet David Chikvaidze of United Nations Office in Geneva discussed and agreed to hold the second Geneva Dialogue between Asian Scholars and senior officials of UN and International Organizations on September 2-4, 2019 in a meeting held with Executive Director for Academic Exchange of UN Association of Japan and Director of ACUNS Liaison Office in Tokyo Sukehiro Hasegawa.

Speaking in English, he said “I call on all of us to rebuild trust toward the system for international trade. That should be a system that is fair, transparent, and effective in protecting IP (intellectual property) and also in such areas as e-commerce and government procurement.”

Angela Merkel championed a global world order in her address at the World Economic Forum in Davos while Shinzo Abe declared that it was time to rebuild trust in free trade.

Asahi newspaper published an op-ed on Triangular Partnership by Takakazu Ito, Senior Programme Officer, Department of Operational Support of the United Nations on 10 January.

　On New Year’s Day, 1st of January 2019, my wife, daughter and I made a bus tour to Bellinzona through Swiss Alps mountains, arriving at San Bernardino Pass at more than 2,000 meters high in the Swiss Alps. We finally arrived at Lugano.