By Ramesh Jaura
We don’t want to look back … just recall that we faced numerous obstacles when we re-launched IDN-InDepthNews at the beginning of 2016 under the umbrella of the International Press Syndicate (INPS), formerly Globalom Media, established in March 2009.
As we move forward in 2017, we are very grateful to our colleagues around the world – Phil Harris, Shastri Ramachandran, A.D. McKenzie, Neena Bhadrari, Kalinga Seneviratne, Katsuhiro Asagiri, Jacques Couvas, Fabiola Ortiz, Justus Wanzala, Jeffrey Moyo, Kizito Makoye Shigela, Stella Paul, Lowana Veal, Vesna Peric Zimonjic and Lisa Vives of Global Information Network, to name just a few.
We owe sincere thanks to our contributors whose expert analyses and viewpoints enhanced the quality of what we offer to our readers: Jayantha Dhanapala (former UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs); David Krieger (President and a founder of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation); Alyn Ware (Global Coordinator, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament); Dr Palitha Kohona (former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York); Siddharth Chatterjee (UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Kenya); Franz Baumann (former UN Assistant Secretary-General, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Environment and Peace Operations); and Jonathan Power (a well-known foreign-affairs columnist for the past 30 years).
We are also grateful for and appreciate the support we received from Tokyo-based Soka Gakkai International for coverage of issues related to a nuclear-weapons free world and sustainable development – and this in large part due to INPS Japan headed by Katsuhiro Asagiri.
We joined the Secretariat of the ACP Group of States, headed by Secretary-General Dr. Patrick I. Gomes, to monitor the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.
Global development goals in Southeast Asia are also the centrepiece of a joint project of the Global Cooperation Council – partner of INPS – and Devnet Japan presided by Fumiyasu Akegawa.
We would also like to thank friends who helped us launch UN Insider, which is highly appreciated by an increasing number of Permanent Missions of 193 member states accredited to the United Nations in New York. This Monday newsletter has also been drawing attention of Permanent Missions accredited to the United Nations in Vienna. In 2017, we will continue to rely on our relentless commitment and count on the support of a growing number of our readers and subscribers as well as Editors, Bureau Chiefs, the Board of Directors and our Board of Advisers.
Help us to continue connecting the dots by providing news and analysis reflecting the concerns of the marginalised sections of societies in rich, middle and low-income countries and building bridges between citizens and institutions – whether national, sub-regional, regional, international, intergovernmental or non-governmental – with a view to making information more democratic and participatory. [IDN-InDepthNews – 2 January 2017]
Image credit: embracingthedetour.com.
Note: The website of the image carries a quote from a poem by Frances Anne “Fanny” Kemble, a notable British actress from a theatre family in the early and mid-19th century:
Fail not for sorrow, falter not for sin,
But onward, upward, till the goal ye win.