The Book of Aspirations was part of a public participation effort by the 10th session of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD X) in 2000.
The concept was suggested by Rubens Ricupero, Secretary General of UNCTAD to give people from all walks of life a voice in the solution of global problems.
The resulting document was structured in nine chapters and had, among others, contributions by Rebekah Jorgensen, Ph.D. (film producer), Bernice Dubois (French Coordination for European Women's Lobby), Shabbir A. Khan (President, Rashid Memorial Welfare Organization), Richard L Brolin (Director of World Economic Processing Zones Association), James Goldstein (Senior Research Director, Tellus Institute, Massachusetts), Roberta Beach Jacobson, Ph.D. (journalist), Felix.A.Ryan (environmentalist, Ryan Foundation), Lars Straeter (Chairman of Democratic World and SOLID), Tatoul Manasserian, Ph.D., D.S. (Professor of International Business and Economics, Yerevan State University, Armenia).
UNCTAD X, The Book of Aspirations, Fall 2000
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is an intergovernmental organization within the United Nations Secretariat that promotes the interests of developing countries in world trade. It was established in 1964 by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and reports to that body and the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). UNCTAD is composed of 195 member states and works with nongovernmental organizations worldwide; its permanent secretariat is in Geneva, Switzerland.
Supachai Panitchpakdi is a Thai politician and professor. He was Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) from 1 September 2005 to 31 August 2013. Prior to this, he was the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) from 1 September 2002 to 1 September 2005. He was succeeded by Pascal Lamy.
A container ship is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal freight transport and now carry most seagoing non-bulk cargo.
Jan A. Kregel is an American post-Keynesian economist.
William Manning Marable was an American professor of public affairs, history and African-American Studies at Columbia University. Marable founded and directed the Institute for Research in African-American Studies. He wrote several texts and was active in numerous progressive political causes.
Andrzej Marian Olechowski is a Polish politician. He was one of the co-founders of liberal conservative party Civic Platform in 2001 with Maciej Płażyński and Donald Tusk. He served as Minister of Finance (1992) in the Jan Olszewski's Government and Minister of Foreign Affairs (1993–1995) in the Waldemar Pawlak's Government.
Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf is a Somali lawyer and judge serving on the International Court of Justice since 2009. He served as the court's president from 2018 to 2021.
Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami, also known as Dr. Thoudam Damodara Singh and by the honorific Sripada, was a Gaudiya Vaishnava spiritual leader, chemist, writer about religion and science, and poet. In 1971 he received spiritual initiation from A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. A few years later he became one of the religious leaders of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
The International Trade Centre (ITC) is a multilateral agency which has a joint mandate with the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations (UN) through the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Purnomo Yusgiantoro is an Indonesian politician. He served as Minister of Defense in the Second United Indonesia Cabinet from 2009 to 2014. Previously, he served as Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources from 2000 to 2009. He also served as secretary-general of OPEC in 2004.
Rebeca Grynspan Mayufis is a Costa Rican economist who has been serving as Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) since 13 September 2021.
Arvind Panagariya is an Indian-American economist who is the Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy at Columbia University and is also the Director of Deepak and Neera Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies at School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University in New York City. He served as first vice-chairman of the government of India think-tank NITI Aayog between January 2015 and August 2017. He has been appointed as the chairman of 16th Finance Commission by the government of India. He is a former Chief Economist of the Asian Development Bank. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the President of India in 2012 for his contributions in the field of economics and Public Policy. He is an authority on free trade and widely regarded as the foremost expert in the world on Indian economy.
Gerasimos Arsenis was a Greek politician who served as a Member of the Hellenic Parliament and as a Minister in several Governments with the Panhellenic Socialist Movement.
Muthucumaraswamy Sornarajah is a legal academic. He is an Emeritus Professor and former C. J. Koh Professor of Law at the National University of Singapore, the Tunku Abdul Rahman Professor of Law at the University of Malaya, and the former head of the school of law at the University of Tasmania. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Human Rights, London School of Economics. He has been arbitrator, counsel or expert in several leading investment arbitrations.
The Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries(G.S.T.P) is a preferential trade agreement, currently encompassing 42 members (“participants”), signed on 13 April 1988 with the aim of increasing trade between developing countries. It was negotiated within the framework of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The Agreement entered into force on 19 April 1989 and was notified to the then General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), predecessor of the World Trade Organization (WTO), on 25 September 1989. The 42 members of GSTP include 7 LDCs as well.
Thomas Pollan is a German and English language author.
James X. Zhan has been Director of Investment and Enterprise at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) since 2009. He also leads the preparation of the annual World Investment Report.
Maria DeJoseph Van Kerkhove is an American infectious disease epidemiologist. With a background in high-threat pathogens, Van Kerkhove specializes in emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and is based in the Health Emergencies Program at the World Health Organization (WHO). She is the technical lead of COVID-19 response and the head of emerging diseases and zoonosis unit at WHO.
Vilawan Mangklatanakul is a Thai lawyer and diplomat at Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand. She joined the Foreign Service in 1995 and currently serves as Deputy Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs. In November 2021, Mangklatanakul was elected as one of the International Law Commission (ILC) Members for the term 2023–2027, making her the first Thai woman national and international lawyer from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region to serve the position.
Lê Thị Tuyết Mai is a Vietnamese diplomat. In February 2020, she was appointed Vietnam's permanent representative to the United Nations Office, the World Trade Organization, and other international organizations based in Geneva.