Looking ahead at key events for development in 2014

As 2013 came full circle, DESA News got an exclusive interview with the department’s Under-Secretary-General, Mr. Wu Hongbo, who shared some of the past year’s gains as well as some highlights for an eventful and action-packed new 2014. “We will discharge our mandates […] and do whatever we can to make our work a success next year,” said Mr. Wu. Read more

Forecast predicts increase of economic growth

“The world economy has experienced another year of subdued growth in 2013,” said Pingfan Hong, Acting Director of DESA’s Development Policy and Analysis Division, as the Global Economic Outlook for 2014 was revealed on 18 December 2013. Mr. Hong pointed to continued challenges, but he also shared some new positive trends including improvements in the Euro area and strengthened growth in the US. Read more

Improving sustainable energy access for rural areas

A number of commitments to help bring modern and reliable energy services to impoverished rural communities were announced by UNDP, WHO, the Alliance for Rural Electrification and several other stakeholders at the “Global Conference on Rural Energy Access: A Nexus Approach to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication”, which took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 4 to 6 December 2013. Read more

Technical reports

Launch of the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2014

The World Economic Situation and Prospects 2014 (WESP) will be launched in multi-city locations around the world on 20 January. The first chapter of the report on the “Global economic outlook”, pre-released on 18 December 2013, reveals that the global economy is expected to grow at a pace of 3.0 per cent in 2014 and 3.3 per cent in 2015, compared with an estimated growth of 2.1 per cent for 2013. Read more