28 April 2011, Washington DC - Following the historic referendum in South Sudan, Google and the World Bank organized an event to harness the power of mapping to support the soon-to-be world’s newest independent nation. South Sudan is a very vast area that is still poorly mapped. The lack of basic geospatial information makes it difficult for authorities, civil society and development partners to evaluate needs and plan development actions.

In April 2011, UNITAR and the Association of International Chemical Manufacturers (AICM) established a framework agreement to allow the two organizations to develop and implement projects and activities and pursue other forms of cooperation. Specific areas of focus will include, inter alia:

28 March 2011. UNITAR’s International Law Programme launched its new e-course on the Law of Treaties. Fifty-two participants from 39 countries, most of whom are government officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and staff from International Organizations, were selected to take this course.

UNOSAT and ADPC moved swiftly to implement their recently signed strategic partnership agreement. In April UNOSAT delivered a successful intensive course for trainers (ToT) hosted at the campus of the Asian Institute of Technology, in Bangkok.

The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the Institute of International Studies (IIS) of Fudan University, China have signed a cooperation agreement to receive post graduate students from Fudan University at UNITAR Headquarters in Geneva in the framework of the UNITAR internship programme.  Th

April 12th, 2011 marked a new milestone in the history of the cooperation between UNITAR and the Municipality of Plock Poland. On this date, Mr. Carlos Lopes, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNITAR Executive Director, and Mr.

CIFAL Atlanta in partnership with Airport Council International (ACI) and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (HJAIA) hosted its 42nd training seminar titled “Airports and Economic Development: Latin America and the Caribbean” on March 24-25, 2011 in the city of Atlanta, USA.

The Federation of Industries of the State of Paraná (FIEP) and the Brazilian Agency for Cooperation (ABC), federal government agency linked to the Ministry of External Relations, signed on April 15, in Curitiba (Brazil), a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which foresees ABC’s institutional and economic support in actions oriented towards transfer of Brazilian know-how and technical cooperation among cities from other count

More than 15 analytical maps and reports have been produced by the UNOSAT team of satellite analysts in support to various UN humanitarian agencies and the UN Humanitarian Air Service since March. As the situation deteriorated due to the intensifying military activities in and around various cities on the coast, larger numbers of civilians found themselves trapped in conflict areas sometimes subject to heavy shelling, with slim chances to be reached by humanitarian relief or evacuated to safer areas.

The UNITAR Peacekeeping Training Programme (PTP), in partnership with the International Security Sector Advisory Team (ISSAT), is happy to announce the launch of the first ever e-learning course on security sector reform. This much awaited course combines the experience and knowledge of ISSAT and the interactive and online educational expertise of UNITAR. The course has been developed from ISSAT’s Level 1 Basic course on SSR, and is recognized by both organizations with UNITAR/ISSAT certification.