NEW YORK, NY, March 25, 2009: Ambassador Camillo Gonsalves of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has been named a co-facilitator to conduct negotiations and facilitate the preparatory process in the run-up to the United Nations Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its impact on Development. The Conference will take place from June 1-3, 2009, at the UN headquarters in New York.

In a letter to the Member States of the United Nations, General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann announced his decision to appoint Ambassador Gonsalves and Ambassador Frank Majoor, of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, to be co-facilitators for the preparatory process of the Conference. In an Ambassadorial meeting at which he announced the appointment, President Brockmann stated, "I hope the Members of the General Assembly will join me in thanking H.E. Mr. Camillo Gonsalves... and H.E. Mr. Frank Majoor... for agreeing to take on this important responsibility."

The Conference, which is expected to draw heads of state and ministers from the entire United Nations membership, comes on the heels of the G20 Summit in London, which was not open to the perspectives of many of the countries most seriously affected by the current economic crisis.