Andrew Mason

In his opening remarks, Andy Mason reported on progress since the last NTA meeting, which took place in December 2012 in Brazil.

1. The NTA Manual 2.0 has been successfully completed and will be launched at this meeting by Jorge Bravo, Chief of the Population and Development Section, DESA-Population Division, United Nations.

2. NTA members from African countries held a successful meeting this past March in connection with a Meeting of African Ministers of Finance and Economic Development in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire.

3. Teams from eight new countries have joined NTA or are currently in the process of joining. They come from Benin, Cambodia, El Salvador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Turkey, and Vietnam. New teams have joined NTA from Peru and France.

4. Hiro Ogawa has stepped down as regional coordinator for Asia and the Pacific, and Sang-Hyop Lee has assumed the position. Hiro will continue to be an active member of the NTA team from Japan.

5. Olanrewaju Olaniyan ("Olu") has become co-regional coordinator for the NTA group in Africa.