UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi and the Peruvian government formally launched preparations for UNCTAD’s next quadrennial ministerial meeting, to be held in Lima in 2016.
Dr. Kituyi met ministers and other high-level officials from Peru in Lima on 5 May to begin laying the groundwork for UNCTAD XIV. A meeting to set out key steps to be undertaken was held with Mrs. Eda Rivas Franchini, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mr. Luis Miguel Castilla Rubio, Minister of Economy and Finance; Mrs. Magali Silva, Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism; and Paola Bustamante Suárez, Minister of Development and Social Inclusion.
The UNCTAD Secretary-General noted that coming so soon after the enunciation of the post-2015 sustainable development goals, UNCTAD XIV accords us one of the earlier opportunities for the United Nations membership to perfect the global compact in the implementation phase.
Dr. Kituyi also paid tribute to Peru's role in multilateral development, including through hosting of meetings of UN bodies. In addition to UNCTAD's next conference, the 35th Session of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is being held in Lima this week (5-9 May). He also highlighted the connection between the United Nations and Peru as homeland of former UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar.
During the trip, Secretary-General Kituyi addressed students of the Javier Pérez de Cuéllar Diplomatic Academy of Peru on "The future of Multilateralism" and spoke at the biannual ECLAC ministerial meeting on "Equality and Sustainable Development: The Nexus between UNCTAD and ECLAC".
 From left to the right: H.E. Ms. Magali Silva, Dr.Mukhisa Kituyi, H.E. Ms. Eda Rivas Franchini, H.E. Mr. Luis Miguel Castilla Rubio and H.E. Ms. Paola Bustamante Suárez |
