United Nations University institute to open in Dakar

14 March 2014

The United Nations University, or UNU, is to open a research and development institute in Dakar, the first in Francophone West Africa and the third on the continent. The agreement was signed this month between David M Malone, rector of the university, and Mankeur Ndiaye, Senegal's minister for foreign affairs.

The institute is being created under a partnership between Senegal's Consortium for Economic and Social Research and the United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology, or UNU-MERIT, a research and training institute of the UNU and Maastricht University in the Netherlands, reported the Agence de Presse Senegalaise.

Malone was accompanied by Bart Verspagen and Theophile Azomahou, respectively director and research director of UNU-MERIT.

During the visit the UNU delegation met Mary Teuw Niane, Senegalese minister for higher education and scientific research, who confirmed the government's commitment to the opening of the institute and its support for all its initiatives, reported APS.

The Dakar institute will be the third UNU institute in Africa, reported Sud Quotidien.

The others are the Institute for Natural Resources in Africa, UNU-INRA, in Ghana's capital Accra; and the Institute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and of Resources, UNU-FLORES, in the Mozambique capital Maputo.

Set up in 1973 the UNU is a global think tank and postgraduate teaching institution based in Tokyo which aims to help resolve pressing global problems of human survival, development and welfare through collaborative research and education.

It works with universities and research institutes in United Nations member states, bridging the international academic community and the UN system. Through its postgraduate teaching activities the UNU contributes to capacity building, particularly in developing countries.

* This article is drawn from local media. University World News cannot vouch for the accuracy of the original reports.

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