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.

Meanwhile, we are planning a major fundraising event for the end of June. A separate article on this is included in this issue.

Through the hard work of Carl Murrell and his Information Technology Subcommittee we have begun to revise our website. We urge you to visit it at http://globalngoexec.org and let us know what you think. Carl has several interns helping his group with this undertaking, and I think you will like what you see.

We are still basking in the glow of our newly refurbished Resource Center at the UN. Maria-Luisa Chavez and her staff have made the basement setting in the UN building light and airy, with plenty of room for NGOs to use the computers, the conference room, and the advice of the DPI personnel.

We will be asking for nominations for the NGO/DPI Executive Committee shortly. Victoria Edmonds heads up our Nominations Subcomittee and will be corresponding with you in the weeks to come.

Kelly Roberts and Mary Norton are continuing to work on the Youth Pilot Project. Presently we have a half dozen college and university students from the Metropolitan New York area acting as the eyes and ears for NGOs outside of the United States. If you are interested in having your own student representative, please contact either Kelly or Mary.

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Chuck Hitchcock

Chair, NGO-DPI Executive Committee