The United Nations and regional organizations are seeking enhanced cooperation in sustaining international peace and security at a high-level retreat beginning Monday outside New York City, Xinhua reported.
The two-day retreat, hosted by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, would focus on strengthening cooperation in peace making and peace-keeping, conflict prevention and crisis management, according to a UN press release on Monday.
The meeting started Monday evening with an address by Ban entitled "Global Realities and Regional Challenges." The agenda also included time for informal interactions between the participants, said the report.
Ban was expected to hold bilateral meetings with some of the participants to allow for focused discussions on regional hot spots as well as cooperation on broader global issues.
The retreat would be followed by a Security Council debate on Wednesday on UN cooperation with regional organizations.
The debate was initiated by China, which holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council in January.
Retreat participants included the heads of the African Union Commission , the Caribbean Community, the League of Arab States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Organization of American States, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, and Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
In recent years, the United Nations and regional and other organizations have forged cooperative relationships in various areas, including mediation, electoral matters, peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance.
Today, the majority of UN peace and security activities around the world are undertaken in cooperation with regional or sub-regional organizations.