The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, is responsible for establishing international standards and recommended practices and procedures for the technical, economic, and legal aspects of international civil aviation operations. ICAO’s strategic objectives include enhancing global aviation safety and security and the efficiency of aviation operations, minimizing the adverse effect of global civil aviation on the environment, maintaining the continuity of aviation operations, and strengthening laws governing international civil aviation.

The International Labour Organization (ILO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, seeks the promotion of social justice and internationally recognized human and labor rights. As part of its mandate, the ILO maintains an extensive statistical publication program.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established to promote international monetary cooperation, facilitate the expansion and balanced growth of international trade, promote exchange rate stability, help establish a multilateral payments system, make the general resources of the IMF temporarily available to its members under adequate safeguards, and shorten the duration and lessen the degree of disequilibrium in the international balance of payments of members.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a specialized agency of the United Nations, covers all aspects of telecommunication, from setting standards that facilitate seamless interworking of equipment and systems on a global basis to adopting operational procedures for the vast and growing array of wireless services and designing programs to improve telecommunication infrastructure in the developing world. The ITU is also a catalyst for forging development partnerships between government and private industry.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent U.S. government agency whose mission is to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defense. It is responsible for promoting science and engineering through almost 20,000 research and education projects. In addition, the NSF fosters the exchange of scientific information among scientists and engineers in the United States and other countries, supports programs to strengthen scientific and engineering research potential, and evaluates the impact of research on industrial development and general welfare.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) includes 30 member countries sharing a commitment to democratic government and the market economy. With active relationships with some 70 other countries, nongovernmental organizations, and civil society, it has a global reach. It is best known for its publications and statistics, which cover economic and social issues from macroeconomics to trade, education, development, and science and innovation.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) conducts research on questions of conflict and cooperation of importance for international peace and security, with the aim of contributing to an understanding of the conditions for peaceful solutions to international conflicts and for a stable peace. SIPRI’s main publication, SIPRI Yearbook, is an authoritive and independent source on armaments and arms control and other conflict and security issues.

As part of broader efforts to develop effective and long-term solutions to child labor, the International Labor Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the World Bank initiated the joint interagency research program “Understanding Children’s Work and Its Impact” in December 2000. The Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) project was located at UNICEF’s Innocenti Research Centre in Florence, Italy, until June 2004, when it moved to the Centre for International Studies on Economic Growth in Rome.

The United Nations currently has 191 member states. The purposes of the United Nations, as set forth in the Charter, are to maintain international peace and security; to develop friendly relations among nations; to cooperate in solving international economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian problems and in promoting respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; and to be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in attaining these ends.

The Urban Indicators Programme of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme was established to address the urgent global need to improve the urban knowledge base by helping countries and cities design, collect, and apply policy-oriented indicators related to development at the city level.

The United Nations Children’s Fund works with other UN bodies and with governments and nongovernmental organizations to improve children’s lives in more than 140 developing countries through community-based services in primary health care, basic education, and safe water and sanitation.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is the principal organ of the United Nations General Assembly in the field of trade and development. Its mandate is to accelerate economic growth and development, particularly in developing countries. UNCTAD discharges its mandate through policy analysis; intergovernmental deliberations, consensus building, and negotiation; monitoring, implementation, and follow-up; and technical cooperation.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that promotes “collaboration among nations through education, science, and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law, and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms . . . for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language, or religion.”

The mandate of the United Nations Environment Programme is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and people to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization was established to act as the central coordinating body for industrial activities and to promote industrial development and cooperation at the global, regional, national, and sectoral levels. Its mandate is to help develop scientific and technological plans and programs for industrialization in the public, cooperative, and private sectors.

The World Bank Group is the world’s largest source of development assistance. Its mission is to fight poverty and improve the living standards of people in the developing world. It is a development bank, providing loans, policy advice, technical assistance, and knowledge sharing services to low- and middle-income countries to reduce poverty. The Bank promotes growth to create jobs and to empower poor people to take advantage of these opportunities. It uses its financial resources, trained staff, and extensive knowledge base to help each developing country onto a path of stable, sustainable, and equitable growth in the fight against poverty. The World Bank Group has 184 member countries.

The objective of the World Health Organization (WHO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, is the attainment by all people of the highest possible level of health. The WHO carries out a wide range of functions, including coordinating international health work; helping governments strengthen health services; providing technical assistance and emergency aid; working for the prevention and control of disease; promoting improved nutrition, housing, sanitation, recreation, and economic and working conditions; promoting and coordinating biomedical and health services research; promoting improved standards of teaching and training in health and medical professions; establishing international standards for biological, pharmaceutical, and similar products; and standardizing diagnostic procedures.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is an international organization dedicated to helping to ensure that the rights of creators and owners of intellectual property are protected worldwide and that inventors and authors are thus recognized and rewarded for their ingenuity. WIPO’s main tasks include harmonizing national intellectual property legislation and procedures, providing services for international applications for industrial property rights, exchanging intellectual property information, providing legal and technical assistance to developing and other countries facilitating the resolution of private intellectual property disputes, and marshalling information technology as a tool for storing, accessing, and using valuable intellectual property information. A substantial part of its activities and resources is devoted to development cooperation with developing countries.

The World Tourism Organization is an intergovernmental body entrusted by the United Nations with promoting and developing tourism. It serves as a global forum for tourism policy issues and a source of tourism know-how.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only international organization dealing with the global rules of trade between nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably, and freely as possible. It does this by administering trade agreements, acting as a forum for trade negotiations, settling trade disputes, reviewing national trade policies, assisting developing countries in trade policy issues—through technical assistance and training programs—and cooperating with other international organizations. At the heart of the system—known as the multilateral trading system—are the WTO’s agreements, negotiated and signed by a large majority of the world’s trading nations and ratified by their parliaments.

Containerisation International Yearbook is one of the most authoritative reference books on the container industry. The information can be accessed on the Containerisation International Web site, which also provides a comprehensive online daily business news and information service for the container industry.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) provides information and analysis on strategic trends and facilitates contacts between government leaders, business people, and analysts that could lead to better public policy in international security and international relations. The IISS is a primary source of accurate, objective information on international strategic issues.

The International Road Federation (IRF) is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization with a mission to encourage and promote development and maintenance of better and safer roads and road networks. It helps put in place technological solutions and management practices that provide maximum economic and social returns from national road investments.

Netcraft’s work includes the provision of network security services and research data and analysis of the Internet. It is an authority on the market share of Web servers, operating systems, hosting providers, Internet service providers, encrypted transactions, electronic commerce, scripting languages, and content technologies on the Internet.

PricewaterhouseCoopers provides industry-focused assurance, tax, and advisory services for public and private clients in corporate accountability, risk management, structuring and mergers and acquisitions, and performance and process improvement.

Standard & Poor’s Emerging Markets Data Base (EMDB) is the world’s leading source for information and indices on stock markets in developing countries. It currently covers 53 markets and more than 2,600 stocks. Drawing a sample of stocks in each EMDB market, Standard & Poor’s calculates indices to serve as benchmarks that are consistent across national boundaries. Standard & Poor’s calculates one index, the S&P/IFCG (Global) index, that reflects the perspective of local investors and those interested in broad trends in emerging markets and another, the S&P/IFCI (Investable) index, that provides a broad, neutral, and historically consistent benchmark for the growing emerging market investment community.

The World Conservation Monitoring Centre provides information on the conservation and sustainable use of the world’s living resources and helps others to develop information systems of their own. It works in close collaboration with a wide range of people and organizations to increase access to the information needed for wise management of the world’s living resources.

The World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) is the global voice of the information technology industry. It is dedicated to advocating policies that advance the industry’s growth and development; facilitating international trade and investment in information technology products and services; strengthening WITSA’s national industry associations; and providing members with a broad network of contacts. WITSA also hosts the World Congress on Information Technology and other worldwide events.

The World Resources Institute is an independent center for policy research and technical assistance on global environmental and development issues. The institute provides—and helps other institutions provide—objective information and practical proposals for policy and institutional change that will foster environmentally sound, socially equitable development. The institute’s current areas of work include trade, forests, energy, economics, technology, biodiversity, human health, climate change, sustainable agriculture, resource and environmental information, and national strategies for environmental and resource management.