Presentations and discussions will compare current situations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America with the promises implied in developmental economic thinking based on mainstream economics and international political programmes that rely on neoliberal precepts. Participants will offer suggestions for alternative approaches to economic development that can lead to a higher degree of independence and self-reliance for the less developed local economies.

Conference sessions will focus on "Economic Reality and Prevailing Myths", "Regional Contexts", and "Country Experiences". Featured speakers will include Mr. Mark Weisbrot (Co-Director of the US-based Center for Economic and Policy Research), Prof. Pasuk Phongpaichit (Chulalongkorn University, Thailand), Ambassador Jean-Christian Obame (Gabon), Prof. R. Taggart Murphy (Tsukuba University), Prof. Karel van Wolferen (President, The ReThink Foundation), Prof. Ryokichi Hirono (Seikei University), Mr. Rolph van der Hoeven (Manager, Technical Secretariat, World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization), and Dr. Prof. Hans van Ginkel (UNU Rector). There will also be a panel discussion and audience-participation discussion sessions.

The conference will begin at 9:45 AM on Wednesday, 1 December. Simultaneous English-Japanese interpretation will be provided. The public is invited to attend, but advance registration (by 29 November) is required. A registration form is available online at http://archive.unu.edu/hq/rector_office/events2004/FightingPoverty-reply.doc. Media representatives are cordially invited to attend. Please contact the UNU Office of Communications to reserve a media space (tel. 03-5467-1243 & -1246, fax 03-3406-7346, e-mail media@unu.edu). For those unable to attend, the event will be "webcast" live (and archived) at http://c3.unu.edu/unuvideo/?50. Additional information will soon be available on United Nations University's website at http://archive.unu.edu/ and The ReThink Foundation's website at http://www.rethinkfoundation.org/.