The list of nine candidates for the position of Director-General at the International Labour Organization has been announced.  See the list here.  In chronological order of receiving their nominations, the list includes Gilles de Robien (France), Angelino Garzón (Colombia), Ad Melkert (Netherlands), Jomo Kwame Sundaram (Malaysia), Ibrahim Assane Mayaki (Niger), Assane Diop (Senegal), Mona Sahlin (Sweden), Guy Ryder (nominated by Worker members of the Governing Body) and Charles Dan (Benin).  All nine will be interviewed by the Governing Body on 30 to 31 March, and the actual election is scheduled for 28 May 2012.  Balloting rounds will continue until a candidate receives a majority.  Last September, the current Director-General Juan Somavia announced his early departure to be effective on 30 September 2012, and the new Director-General will assume his position then.  The ILO Governing Body, meeting in Geneva for the last two weeks has been abuzz with the pros and cons of each candidate.

On 12-13 March, the Economic and Social Council convened its annual high-level dialogue with the World Trade Organization and the Bretton Woods institutions, on “Coherence, Coordination and Cooperation in the context of Financing for Development”.  See the agenda here, and an extensive background note from the UN Secretary-General here.  Access to all meeting documents can be found here. We note that H.E. Mr. Anthony Mothae Maruping (Lesotho), President of the UNCTAD Trade and Development Board and President of the Preparatory Committee for UNCTAD XIII was a featured speaker.  The financing of sustainable development is a major topic here, as it is at UNCTAD XIII, along with “sustained, inclusive and equitable economic growth, job creation, and productive investment and trade”.  This is all very ambitious, but again we sense a momentum for the financing and FDI issues.  We are also interested to note that the World Bank is preparing its World Development Report 2013 on “Jobs”. Look for a follow-up article on the outcomes of the ECOSOC meeting in an upcoming issue of the CMBD News.