Dear Colleagues:

Welcome to the new look and approach for the NGO Reporter.  We hope that you enjoy this premiere edition and click-on to read each of the complete articles on our site.

As chair of the NGO DPI Executive Committee, it is my great pleasure to announce our annual fundraiser, to be held this year on Thursday evening, 28 June, at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center. We will bring to you an evening of music and song, The Rhythms of One World, featuring seven international youth choirs of international acclaim. We will celebrate the signing of the United Nations Charter (June 1945) and support the work of the NGO/DPI Executive Committee, a voice of civil society at the United Nations.

Many of you have inquired about the next UN DPI NGO Conference.  Since the conclusion of our very successful 64th Annual Conference in Bonn, Germany last semester, the biggest news from the NGO/DPI Executive Committee is no news. We are still waiting for a host country to come forth for our 65th Annual Conference. We have received “feelers” from Qatar, Kenya, Tunisia, Morocco, and Brazil, but nothing has come forth from the governments in the form of a host country agreement. It is getting very late for us to plan a conference for this September, so we are looking for a later date, i.e. mid-November in Tunisia or January in Brazil. We will let you know as soon as we have concrete plans to announce.

Chuck Hitchcock, Chair

NGO/DPI Executive Committee