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Brazil and India told the WTO Committee on Trade and Development on 18 March 2010 that they are pushing ahead with commitments to provide duty-free, quota-free treatment of imports from the least-developed countries (LDCs). The Committee elected Amb. Erwidodo (Indonesia) as its chair for 2010 and re-elected Amb. Jean Feyder (Luxembourg) as chair of the Sub-Committee on Least-Developed Countries.

New York: The Security Council has decided that the election to fill the vacancy at the principal judicial organ of the United Nations arising from the resignation of Judge Shi Jiuyong will take place on 29 June.

New York: Countries in the Asia-Pacific region must step up their cooperation to tackle the threat of highly infectious diseases - including H1N1 - crossing borders, a senior United Nations official has said.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) statistical experts are working with officials of the Bank of Botswana (BOB) and of the Nonbank Financial Regulatory Agency (NBFIRA) to improve the breadth and quality of data collected from the financial industry. The cooperative effort is part of an ongoing IMF technical assistance program and responds to calls by international groups, including the G-20, for improved data standards worldwide to support more robust macroeconomic and financial surveillance in the light of the global financial crisis.

WASHINGTON - The World Bank Board of Executive Directors has approved a US$ 13 million grant from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) for the Sustainable Cerrado Initiative, which seeks to guarantee the conservation of the most biodiverse savanna in the world, which covers nearly 25% of the Brazilian territory. The grant will be implemented by the federal and state governments, with World Bank support.

WASHINGTON - The World Bank Board of Directors has approved a US$65 million project to support the recovery of Haiti's critical infrastructure as well as the reestablishment of basic State functions following the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake on January 12, 2010. This is part of a US$100 million emergency grant announced by the World Bank right after the earthquake.

WASHINGTON, DC ─ The World Bank has approved two education projects worth US$1.05 billion to India, designed to boost the number of children enrolling in and completing elementary school, and to improve quality of engineering education across the country.

BRUSSELS — The outlook for primary energy supplies, heat, and electricity is questionable for the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region, despite Russia and Central Asia's current role as a major energy supplier to both Eastern and Western Europe. In spite of the underlying resource base, the region as a whole will face an energy crunch unless investments of more than $3 trillion are made over the next 20 years, according to the new World Bank report Lights Out? The Energy Outlook in Eastern Europe and the Central Asia.

WASHINGTON - The World Bank (WB) has approved a US$7 million grant from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) for the Sustainable Stockbreeding Management Project in Colombia, which is to be carried out by the Colombian Federation of Stockbreeders (Federación Colombiana de Ganaderos, FEDEGAN), and whose focus is to improve production systems to benefit farmers and the environment.

Washington — Only 20 of 128 economies have equal legal rights for men and women in several important areas for entrepreneurs and workers, according to a new World Bank Group report, Women, Business and the Law 2010. Inequality occurs across all regions and income levels. But many economies have been legislating to reduce these inequalities.