An international conference entitled "United Nations and the World Trade Point Federation: instruments for economic development at world, European and local level" will take place in Ragusa and Palermo, Sicily, on 17 and 18 March.
The purpose of the conference is to discuss how participating organizations can contribute to economic development through the Trade Point network; comprising more than 130 trade facilitation and information centres ("Trade Points") in over 80 countries all connected via the Internet. It will be attended by high-level representatives from UNCTAD, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the WTO, the UN´s NGO liaison office in Geneva and the World Trade Point Federation (WTPF). National and regional government representatives and Trade Point directors from throughout Europe will also participate. On 18 March participants will travel from Ragusa to Palermo, where they will meet with the President of the Regional Parliament, the President of Sicily Region and the Regional Minister of Agriculture and Forestry.
The WTPF is an NGO set up in 2000 that originated within UNCTAD´s former Trade Point Programme, launched in 1992. Its mission is to facilitate the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises in international trade, particularly those located in developing countries, through the use of the latest technology and the Trade Point network. In addition to its role as partner in the provision of trade-related information online, UNCTAD is also helping the Federation with secretariat tasks, a role it will continue to play until 2007.
