UNCTAD’s Brazilian links, including leadership of former Secretary-General Rubens Ricupero, recalled in celebratory message.
As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of UNCTAD, Brazil is proud to have always been an active participant in the history of the institution. UNCTAD was created as the result of renewed perceptions of the root causes of underdevelopment and of the need for new and specific approaches to the challenges of development. It has served to promote plurality of thought, and action, even at times when the international community -- especially in the fields of economic ideas and policy -- veered towards uniform and quite often equivocated certainties. We are also proud that Brazilian social scientists, public servants and others contributed with their ideas and their work to the accomplishment of UNCTAD's role. In that regard, a special word of recognition to Ambassador Rubens Ricupero, who led the organization for nine years as Secretary-General, a mission which culminated at the IX UNCTAD that Brazil was proud to host in São Paulo in 2004.
