Activities of the Regional Commissions

Economic Commissions for Europe (ECE)

Ms. Brigita Schmögnerová appointed as Executive Secretary of ECE

The Secretary-General announced on 28 February the appointment of Brigita Schmögnerová as the new Executive Secretary of ECE at the Under-Secretary-General level. Ms. Schmögnerová , a national of the Slovak Republic and an economist, has had extensive work experience in the Government of the Slovak Republic including as Deputy Prime Minister, as Minister of Finance, as economic adviser to the President and as a Member of Parliament.

ECE Spring Seminar on Labour market challenges

 On 6 May 2002, ECE held its Spring Seminar on the theme: “Labour market challenges in the ECE region.”  The Seminar addressed issues and topics such as, the possible factors which have contributed to unemployment in western Europe. A critical assessment of current thinking on structural causes, such as, insufficient flexibility of labour markets, supply-side shocks, the external environment and macroeconomic policies was presented during the session, and different policy responses were considered, as indicated in the review of the commissions' sessions.

When the seminar considered unemployment in the transition economies it evaluated the range of factors such as the need for economy-wide reallocation of resources, the transformational recession and the accompanying erosion of human capital which have contributed to the chronically high unemployment in eastern Europe and the CIS. It discussed why some countries have had a better labour market performance than others and assessed the extent to which different initial conditions have contributed to the labour market outcomes in various countries. It considered what policies were feasible to support job creation and whether they would be effective.

The seminar explored how to increase the size and the quality of the domestic labour force and the factors that had contributed to past changes in labour supply in the ECE region. It discussed the linkage between population growth and economic growth, and discussed the importance of human capital for the absorptive capacity and international competitiveness of an economy.

It also discussed whether immigration was a solution to labour market problems, a subject very much in the news throughout Europe. It started with a review of the role of immigration in coping with short-term shortages of labour skills and in alleviating the longer-term problem of ageing populations in many countries. It finished by exploring the wider implications of the costs and benefits of international migration and discussing the policy problems surrounding this issue.

No e-government without good government

ECE has been advising and supporting member governments in structural policy reform by developing standards and promoting the dissemination of best practice, particularly in the field of transport, environment, trade, energy and enterprise development. The Commission is well placed to contribute significantly through a set of various instruments, particularly the Internet, to the various initiatives underway on e-government.

Some of these various e-government initiatives were explored during the International Conference on “E-Government for Development” organized by ECE and the Italian Government in Palermo in April 2002. The main conclusion arrived during the Conference was that there cannot be any e-government without good government. E-tools are a fundamental instrument for policy reform and democratic governance, but only sound policies and a deliberate effort at structural reform can ensure the success of e-government strategies.

It was agreed that putting policymaking in an e-government perspective would bring about informed decisions based on actual evidence, learning by doing and a sound analytical framework. This would permit the establishment of targeted databases, indicators and benchmarks, and the identification of best practices and other “soft regulation” techniques. In sum, e-government would raise the quality of policies and politics. There was also agreement that for the countries with economies in transition, the development of an e-government reform strategy would be a powerful incentive within the prospect of accession to the European Union.

The regional dimension and the perspectives of economic integration in Europe can be of great political significance for e-government, and that is the role ECE has been playing in promoting cooperation in Europe and North America in preparation of the Geneva and Tunis summits on the information society. An ICT common European space is emerging linking countries in the ECE region under the pressure of common issues and, more importantly, on the basis of a shared vision of a coordinated approach to e-government and e-society policies.

Help for entrepreneurs and SMEs

ECE and the World Association for Small and Medium Enterprises (WASME) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Gibraltar in April 2002, to strengthen existing cooperation between the two organisations, to promote entrepreneurship and the creation of a sustainable SME sector. WASME was founded in 1980 in New Delhi, India and has emerged as the largest professionally managed global non-governmental organization with Members and Associates in 112 countries—out of them 31 are member States of ECE—serving micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The four pillars of WASME growth strategies are Peace, Development, Democracy and Security.

The overall goal of ECE's Strategy for SME Development is to promote the conditions necessary for the growth and development of the SME sector by establishing an enabling environment for enterprise creation, and expand income opportunities for vulnerable populations, including women, rural poor, young families, people with disabilities and ethnic minorities, through sustainable, dynamic SME development.

The MoU will strengthen the capabilities of SMEs through joint activities, mainly in the areas of organizing advisory workshops, training courses, exchanging experiences and disseminating information on best practices.

Public-Private Partnerships for infrastructure development in Europe

While the attractiveness and interest in Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) for infrastructure  development continues to grow, the number of actual concrete projects, particularly in the transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS, continues to disappoint. In addressing this challenge many delegates at the ECE conference on “Public-Private Partnership Alliance Programme”, held in Geneva in March 2002, recommended that governments should use the experience of several countries in Europe and consider establishing central PPP Units or Task-Forces within their public administrations to mobilise high-level political support; inform the rest of the public administration and key stakeholders on the concept of PPP; and, remove barriers to PPPs.

Looking forward to the future, the meeting agreed that there is a need to develop a network of PPP Units and the private sector to support the PPP process in Europe. It was agreed that the Alliance Programme will be a platform for capacity and institutional building and experience-sharing to identify, develop and monitor PPPs. Governments will benefit from the Alliance in terms of its high-level expertise; its membership by professionals with practical knowledge of project development; its advice on legal and regulatory issues; training and consultative meetings; and annual forums. It will also provide opportunities to attract private investment into infrastructure sectors that badly need new capital injection.

 ECE will hold a Ministerial Conference on Ageing in Berlin in September 2002, in which a regional implementation strategy will be defined in the light of the plan of action decided in Madrid at the Second World Assembly on Aging. (Source: United Nations photo, number 148574)