High Commissioner's visit to the USA/Brookings Institution round-table

Mrs. Ogata arrived in Washington, D.C. yesterday (14 January) for a two-day official visit. She had meetings yesterday with various U.S. government officials. Today she is participating, together with World Bank President James Wolfensohn, in a round-table hosted by the Brookings Institution on the subject of the gap between humanitarian assistance and long-term development, especially in post-conflict situations. The round-table is chaired by the President of the Brookings Institution, Michael Armacost.

The round-table is also attended by Deputy UN Secretary-General Louise Frechette, as well as the executive heads of UNICEF, UNDP and the WFP, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Senior officials from a number of donor and beneficiary countries as well as high-level representatives of non-governmental organizatons are also attending the meeting.

UNHCR hopes the round-table will help to draw attention to the need to develop institutional arrangements and funding systems to help countries emerging from long periods of conflict make the difficult transition to peace and sustainable development.