On invitation of the UN, AICESIS held its General Assembly in New York on 6th and 7th July 2010, at the UN premises.

All in all, the 2010 New York Assembly went quite well and will remain a milestone in the history of AICESIS! About 130 people were gathered, among who were 110 delegates and 43 ESCs, either present or represented.

Memberships of the Councils of Armenia, Burundi, Mauritania and Suriname were accepted, thus presently bringing the number of AICESIS members up to 61. The Secretariat team has been reinforced with 4 Deputy Secretaries-General, appointed by the GA, with precise assigned duties.

The two scheduled debates (main working theme: “The role of ESCs in the new global economic, social and environmental governance” and supporting plan) were both rich and lively.

In addition, all announced key figures came (UN SG BAN Ki-Moon; Under SG SHA Zukang, in charge of UNDESA; Under SG Philippe DOUSTE-BLAZY, in charge of innovative funding; Mr. ALI Hamidon, President of ECOSOC; M. George DRAGNICH, ILO). The most memorable intervention, symbolic but also very encouraging owing to the message delivered, was of course that of UN SG M. BAN Ki-Moon. Others interventions were genuinely valued because of their substance, notably that of Mr. P. DOUSTE-BLAZY and Mr. G. DRAGNICH (ILO Executive Director, in charge of social dialogue) who replaced Mr. J. SOMAVIA.

The selection procedure of the 2nd MDG AICESIS Awards winners was very well conducted by Mrs Hanifa MEZOUI and was well accepted by the Assembly. The laureates are, in order of merit, the projects of India, Gabon, Benin and Brazil. Awards will be officially given during a ceremony which will take place in the autumn in Rome.

Also, the presence as observers of the Presidents of the Israeli and Palestinian ESCs was noticed and very estimated.

Backgroundinformation
The International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions (AICESIS – www.aicesis.org) was founded on 1st of July 1999 in Port Louis, Mauritius Island. AICESIS brings together national consultative bodies made up of organisations representing employers, trade unions and other areas of civil society. This Association is developing fast. In its initial composition, AICESIS had 27 members; in summer 2010, it registered 61 countries from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America.

AICESIS has regular relations with international organizations such as the UN Economic and Social Development Council (ECOSOC) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) which decided that AICESIS could participate on a continuing basis, without the right to vote, in their deliberations on questions within the scope of its activities. Last, in July 2009 UNDESA and AICESIS exchanged symmetric letters agreeing to cooperate on two concrete issues; successful initiatives have been developed since within this framework.

The commonality and similarity of the goals and activities of AICESIS and its members with the economic, social and human rights agenda of the UN international community are indeed important. AICESIS and ESCs already at present bring synergies into the implementation agenda and strategy of the UN. AICESIS certainly intends to take its full part in the action agenda to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and help “keeping the promise”!