Trade : WTO GC Chair to adopt 8-5-2 formula in the DG race (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Geneva)
The chair of the WTO General Council, Ambassador David Walker from New Zealand, has announced that members will be asked to express four preferences in the first round of the selection process beginning on 7 September for choosing the new Director-General of the organization to replace the current incumbent Roberto Azevedo.

COVID-19 : Fight pandemic, not windmills of the mind (PRIV)
(IPS, Sydney/Kuala Lumpur)
Sydney/Kuala Lumpur, 28 Jul (IPS/Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram*) -- With uneven progress in containing contagion, worsened by the breakdown in multilateral cooperation due to mounting US-China tensions, recovery from the Covid-19 recessions of the first half of 2020 is now expected to be more gradual than previously forecast.

COVID-19 : If UN is working, shouldn't staffers work from home - permanently? (PRIV)
(IPS, New York)
When the coronavirus pandemic delivered a mortal blow to the United States, grounding the country to a virtual standstill and throwing its economy into a deep recession, hundreds and thousands were forced to work "remotely" while offices remained shuttered, beginning late March.

COVID-19 : A determined path to SDGs in 2030 despite pandemic (PRIV)
(IPS, Bangkok)
Bangkok, Thailand, 27 Jul (IPS/Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Kanni Wignaraja and Bambang Susantono*) -- As lockdowns ease in countries across Asia and the Pacific in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing is clear - a return to business as usual is unimaginable in a region that was already off track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).