UN in Focus Newsbrief N0. 3/2012 April 2012 Quick Links FES NY Events FES NY Publications More About Us Dear colleagues and friends, More than one year into the Syrian uprising, the political wranglings inside and outside the UN Security Council about an international reaction to the crisis continue. Against this backdrop, in March FES New York conducted a stock-taking exercise with Security Council diplomats to address some of the systemic challenges of the Council's work. Looking ahead, in April much of our attention goes to Washington and the Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank, where FES joins with our partners in Club de Madrid and the Center of Concern, to begin work on a"Global Shared Societies Agenda", a strategy to promote social inclusion and cohesion for sustainable development and growth. This day of discussions begins with an open, high-level panel including Club de Madrid members John Bruton, Prime Minister of Ireland(1994-1997) and Petre Roman, Prime Minister of Romania(1989- 1991) to discuss the political will necessary to achieve shared societies. We invite everyone accredited to the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings to attend. The afternoon session-for invited advisors from a variety of international and regional organizations-will work toward the formulation of the Agenda, which will be presented during the Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Tokyo in the fall of 2012. In addition, I would like to draw your attention to a new publication,"Fixing Finance is Not Enough" which examines the social consequences of monetary and financial policies and how to embed the objective of social cohesion in all aspects of economic policy. As usual, I hope this Newsbrief will make for informative reading. With best wishes from New York, Dr. Werner Puschra Director Friedrich Ebert Stiftung- New York Office

New Publication " Fixing Finance is Not Enough: The social consequences of monetary and financial policies" Werner Puschra and Sara Burke(Eds.) FES International Policy Analysis April 2012 "Issues relating to inequality or social cohesion should not be considered just as an add-on to mainstream economic policy, but such considerations should be embedded in all aspects of economic policy. In other words, the objectives of public policy include not only growth in output, maintaining employment, and price stability and financial stability, but also social cohesion." -Contributing Author Y.V. Reddy, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India(2003-2008) The 15 collected essays-from heads of governments and central banks, governmental advisors and experts from the United Nations, the Bretton Woods Institutions, OECD, International Labour Organization and academia-raise the level of debate on the role of rising income, wealth and group inequalities and the need to shape policies for a sustainable international monetary and financial system to foster shared societies. Download Upcoming Event " A Global Shared Societies Agenda" 22 April, 2012 International Monetary Fund Headquarters, HQ2 Room 01-280, Washington, DC The"Global Shared-Societies Agenda," a strategy to promote social inclusion and cohesion for sustainable development and growth, is a two-part event that begins with a public, high-level panel discussion on the political will needed to agree to a global shared societies agenda. The afternoon session is a by-invitation workshop for advisors from national and intergovernmental organizations to work on the formulation of an Agenda. The focus of the workshop is on what is required to forge a new, international consensus to directly incorporate social as well as hard economic considerations into the framework of the international monetary and financial system and to bring indicators of impacts on social conditions into the policy performance goals that Member States are required to meet by the international financial institutions. Open Meeting-High-Level Panel Discussion: "A Global Shared Societies Agenda Requires Political Will" [Open and Free to those registered for the BWI Spring Meetings]: 22 April 2012, 9:30 am- 12.30 pm, HQ2 Room 01-280 Panelists: John Bruton, Prime Minister of Ireland(1994-1997); Member, Club de Madrid Petre Roman, Prime Minister of Romania(1989- 1991); Member, Club de Madrid François Bourguignon, Director, Paris School of Economics; former Chief Economist of the World Bank Jack Boorman, Former Director, Policy Development and Review Department and Counsellor and Special Advisor to the Independent Evaluation Office Hugh Bredenkamp, Deputy Director, Strategy, Policy and Review Department, International Monetary Fund

Workshop: "Necessary Elements for a Global Strategy to Promote Social Cohesion for Sustainable Development and Growth" [By invitation only]: 22 April 2012, 2:00 pm- 5:00 pm, HQ2 Room 01-28 Organizations confirmed to participate: Asian Development Bank G20 Mexican Presidency International Labour Organization International Monetary Fund International Trade Union Confederation Islamic Development Bank Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development UN Children's Fund UN-Department of Economic and Social Affairs UN Development Programme UN Regional Commissions UN Women World Bank World Health Organization Program Background Paper: Fixing Finance is not enough Background Paper: Directions for International Financial and Monetary Policy Past Event " Revisiting the Work of the UN Security Council of 2011 Looking Back to Move Ahead" 16 March, 2012, Security Council Report, New York This half-day long workshop that FES New York organized at the"Security Council Report" was a stock-taking exercise of the Council's work last year. Participating in this informal discussion under Chatham House rules were about 25 representatives from current and from previous Council members. Looking back at 2011- a year in which the Council was unique in its composition as well as its actions- was intended to bring to the fore some of the larger challenges related to the Council's membership, its working methods, its position within the UN system- as well as the prospects for reform of any of these issues. Program Workshop Summary Forward email This email was sent to vlehmann@fesny.org by vlehmann@fesny.org| Update Profile/Email Address| Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™| Privacy Policy. Friedrich Ebert Foundation| 747 Third Avenue, Suite 22B| New York| NY| 10017