United Nations agencies have teamed up to organize a preparatory meeting for an international forum next year that would aim to keep the social and economic issues and needs in the occupied Palestinian territories on the agenda of the international community, in spite of the lack of stability in the region.

The two-day consultative meeting, which begins tomorrow in Beirut, will serve to provide input to the Arab-International Forum on “Palestine Rehabilitation and Development” next year. The gathering’s main task will be to define the objectives of the Forum, identify its specific themes for deliberations and widen the preparatory process as much as possible. Other main issues to be deliberated include the Forum’s agenda, format and date, as well as funding issues and the list of participants.

The meeting is cosponsored by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the League of Arab States and the Palestinian Authority, and is organized in cooperation with the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR).