ESCWA Activities

ESCWA Workshop on Beijing + 5—Future actions and initiatives

ESCWA held its regional preparatory meeting on Beijing + 5 on 12-15 December 1998 in Beirut. In addition, ESCWA and the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) organized a workshop on "Beijing +5 – Future actions and initiatives" in the context of emerging global trends, which took place in Beirut from 8 to 10 November 1999. The workshop was attended by experts as well as observers from entities of the United Nations system, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations.

Organized around the main themes of equality, development and peace, the meeting elaborated action-oriented recommendations to be forwarded for discussion to the Commission on the Status of Women acting as the preparatory committee for the special session of the General Assembly on 5-9 June 2000.

ESCWA launches an "Integrated Regional Follow-up Project by the Arab States to the United Nations Global Conferences"

This ESCWA project is being carried out in cooperation with UNDP and in coordination with the League of Arab States (LAS) as well as with ECA. Other organizations such as UNFPA and UNICEF, are invited and welcome to join the initiative.

The project intends to enhance the capacity of the Arab States to implement effectively and efficiently the recommendations of the major four conferences (i.e. see box below). It aims to disseminate to countries of the region, and to relevant regional/sub-regional and national institutions, regionally-developed tools that could be useful in the follow-up to these recommendations.

The Goals of the Project are:

To raise awareness about the importance of the development agenda (in the Arab context) as reflected in the recommendations and plans of action of the UN Global Conferences.
To develop a common regional vision among cooperating countries so as to facilitate follow-up actions at the country level;
To highlight the issues common to the Arab countries and to support cooperation among them;
To develop indicators and relevant tools in order to assist in the formulation of high quality social policies, programmes and strategies, and to facilitate the monitoring of their implementation and the evaluation of their impact.

The project provides for a total of 27 activities for 1999, 2000 and 2001. Some of these activities will have a short-term duration whereas others will span two to three years.

ESCWA organizes a major meeting to enhance Arab cooperation in water resources

ESCWA held an expert group meeting to reinforce cooperation between Arab countries aimed at establishing an effective and sustained mechanism for regional cooperation in water resources management from 25 September to 1 October 1999.

Organized jointly with the UNESCO Cairo office, in cooperation with the Tunis-based Arab League Educational Economic and Scientific Organization (ALESCO), and the Lebanese National Hydrological Committee, the meeting was attended by representatives of ESCWA member countries, experts from the region and representatives of the Arab National Committees of the International Hydrological programme of UNESCO, as well as representatives of several international organizations actives in water sector.

The meeting focused on three major themes: Harmonization of Environmental Standards in the water Sector in the ESCWA member States, IHP-V programmes activities in the Arab World and a workshop on Hydrology and Water Resources Management of Wadis. The meeting provided an opportunity to address a wide range of water issues of relevance to efficient development and management of water resources in the Arab region and in the ESCWA region, in particular, exchange of views and experiences and strengthening cooperation and coordination among regional organizations.

Along with the expert group meeting, ESCWA and UNESCO jointly organized two meetings of Arab National committees of the International Hydrology Programme (IHP) and a Workshop on Wadi Hydrology.

Workshop and seminar on environmental accessibility

ESCWA, in co-operation with DESA, will organise a Workshop and Seminar on "Environmental accessibilityissues in planning and design of accessible urban development" from 29 November to 3 December 1999 in Beirut.

The Workshop and Seminar are being held at Beirut to build upon work carried out by ESCWA in cooperation with the Government of Lebanon, Ministry of Social Affairs, the Lebanese National Committee of Disabled Persons and SOLIDERE, the Lebanese Company for Development and Reconstruction of the Beirut Central District. ESCWA also has published a technical report, "Accessibility for the Disabled in the Urban Environment in the ESCWA region; planning and design solutions".

In this connection, studies on "non-handicapping" physical environments also have been carried out within the context of the Asia and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons (1993-2002) by ESCAP in their publications: "Promotion of non-handicapping physical environments for disabled persons; guidelines" and "Promotion of non-handicapping physical environments for disabled persons; case studies".

Meeting to reinforce partnership between Governments and civil society

ESCWA organized a seminar in cooperation with UNDP and the participation of the League of Arab States on developing a concept of partnership between government institutions and non-governmental organizations of Civil Society, which was held on 4 October 1999 at the United Nations House, Beirut.

Other agencies of the UN system as well as several Arab delegations and NGOs participated in the meeting which discussed the legal aspects of the relation between government and NGOs and the relative administrative process, policy matters and technical tools that are required to reinforce the government/civil society partnership. The objective was to seek ways for empowering Arab societies and developing capacities to follow-up on the implementations of the United Nations Global Conferences that tackled key economic, social and humanitarian issues that top the international community’s agenda.

The meeting highlighted the undisputed need to achieve a re-orientation of developmental effort through a deeper and larger democratic process that mobilizes and calls in all the sectors of the society, including the poor, the marginalized and other groups that were previously left out.

ESCWA promotes Euro-Mediterranean partnership

The challenges of global trade liberalization arise at a time when changes in the international trade environment have led the EU to redefine its policies towards the whole Mediterranean region.

Economic relations between the South Eastern Mediterranean (SEM) countries and the EU, their major trading partner, are being redefined in response to a number of new developments, including that the EU itself and its roles are changing with an expansion of its membership, the signing of association agreements with central and eastern European countries, and the customs union with Turkey. As a result, SEM countries are facing increased competition from countries that are geographically close to the EU. The ongoing multilateral liberalization in trade and services within the framework of the World Trade Organization and the General Agreement on Trade in Services will lead to a market erosion of the preferences the SEM countries presently enjoy in the EU market, inter alia, due to the phase-out of the Multifibre Agreements. To be able to compete under these circumstances, the SEM countries will not only have to rethink their trade strategy, but also to implement more far-reaching liberalization, privatization and deregulation.

As agreed at the Euro-Mediterranean Conference held at Barcelona in November 1995, the central feature of this new Mediterranean policy is the implementation of bilateral free-trade agreements between the EU and each Mediterranean country by 2010. Each of the Mediterranean countries would implement additional free-trade agreements with the others; this could result in the emergence of the largest free-trade area in the world.