His Excellency Mr. Jean Feyder, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has informed that H.E. Dr. Nicolas Schmit, Minister of Labour, Employment and Immigration will be taking part in the Trade and Development Board panel discussion this September on development strategies in a globalized world.
The fifty-ninth session of the Trade and Development Board, UNCTAD's governing body, is being held in Geneva from 17 to 28 September 2012.
Deliberations by the Board under the agenda item on "Development strategies in a globalized world: reducing inequalities for balanced and sustainable development" is expected to focus on the linkages between income distribution, growth and development.
Income inequality has increased significantly over the last decades in different regions and groups of countries. This has revived the tension between advocates of theories that rising inequality is a necessary condition for successful development, and the alternative contention that high or rising inequality is not only an obstacle to development, but also one of the root causes of the current global crisis.
The background to the deliberations of the Board under this item is contained in Chapters II-VI of the Trade and Development Report, 2012, which address the evolution of income inequality over the past decades, the reasons underpinning increasing inequality, the ways it is affecting economic growth, as well as proposals for inclusive development policies that would create the conditions for sustainable and rapid growth.
Minister Schmit is a member of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP) and was previously Minister-Delegate for Foreign Affairs and Immigration.
He represents the Luxembourg government at the Council of Ministers of the European Union in the Employment and Social Policy sections of the its Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs configuration, as well as in the Immigration section of its Justice and Home Affairs configuration.
