Activities of the Regional Commissions
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
China ratifies accession to Bangkok Agreement
China has completed the formalities related to its accession to the Bangkok Agreement—one of Asia's oldest regional trading agreement (RTA) when it deposited the instrument of ratification with the ESCAP secretariat at its the fifty-seventh session of ESCAP held in April 2001. With China's accession, the Bangkok Agreement becomes the largest RTA in the world in terms of market potential with a combined population of member countries of more than 2.5 billion.
The Bangkok Agreement is the first RTA that China has joined leaving Japan as the only Asian economic power that has yet to become a member of any formal regional trading arrangements. Japan, like China, is a member of the APEC, which is an ‘open’ arrangement, based on voluntary trade and economic liberalization by members. The Bangkok Agreement, on the other hand, is a trading arrangement based on the grant of tariff and other trade preferences through formal negotiations of the same among member countries.
Under the Agreement, the
member countries will be able to export 634 products to China at concessional tariffs. The
current members of the Agreement are the Republic of Korea, India, Lao People's Democratic
Republic, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Parliamentarians, civil society meet on environment
ESCAP, together with
UNDP, organized the “Asia-Pacific Forum on Environmental Governance And Sustainable
Development”, held at United Nations University, Tokyo, on 10-11 May 2001, as
preparation for the Rio + 10 World Summit on Environment and Development. The outcome of
the Forum would project the issues of poverty, environment and sustainable development
from an Asian-Pacific perspective into the World Summit. The Forum focused on the impact
of globalization on the environment and poverty reduction; the impact of environmental
issues on sustainable livelihoods; sustainable energy for poverty reduction; water
resource management, access and conservation; global and local environmental governance;
and partnership building among parliamentarians, civil society organizations, the private
sector, and government.
Iraninan Foreign Minister hosts ESCAP Meeting on Globalization
In a follow-up meeting to the deliberations of ESCAP 56th annual session held in June last year on the theme topic of “Development through Globalization and Partnership into Twenty-first Century”, Iranian Foreign Minister H.E. Mr. Kamal Kharrazi, in his capacity as chairman of the Commission at its 56th session, hosted in Tehran a meeting on 10-11 March 2001, on issues related to globalization and integration of Asian developing countries into the international trading system. The main theme was to address the imbalances in the multilateral trading system between the developed countries and the developing countries. In particular, the meeting put special emphasis on countries with economies in transition from a centrally-planned to market economy as well as from a single product to a diversified product economy. The participants also discussed the respective roles of the government and the private sector.
ESCAP introduces video series exploring the Right to Development
The first ever video film series exploring development as a human right was launched on 26 April 2001 in Bangkok. “A Matter of Rights” video series comprises 52 five-minute features. It was a collaborative effort by ESCAP, Worldview International Foundation and YA*TV (Young Asia Television) headquartered in Sri Lanka, with the generous support of the Government of Norway.
Through the prism of social and economic issues in the Asian and Pacific region, “A Matter of Rights” explores different facets of the right to development, from the basic provision of safe drinking water to healthy lifestyles for older persons, in an attempt to both explain and popularize it as a concept. The project brings to audiences images that depict why development is a fundamental right to which all human beings are entitled, by interpreting the Right to Development in day-to-day terms. The series will be broadcast over YA*TV’s extensive network throughout Asia as well as by Singapore cable TV Channel NewsAsia and selected public broadcasters in the region. In addition, it will be made available to non-governmental organizations and educational programmes, among others.
The Second WTO/ESCAP Trade Policy Course under their joint training programme on WTO and the Multilateral Trading System for Developing Countries ran from 21 May-1 June 2001. It targeted capital-based middle-ranking government officials with prior working experience of WTO related issues from ESCAP developing countries. Issues covered included WTO agreements specific to agriculture, textiles and clothing, trade in services as well as market access issues, anti-dumping measures, special and differential treatment, and the dispute settlement system of the WTO.
ESCAP and WTO consider training activities in WTO-related issues as one of their priorities in ongoing trade-related assistance to developing countries. Through this cooperative effort, ESCAP and WTO expect that developing countries will benefit from a more extensive, target-oriented and cost-effective training programme.
Membership to the WTO is an onerous task for developing countries as they continue to struggle with implementation of the Uruguay Round agreements, and the need for enhancing the capabilities of trade negotiators is expected to continue to increase over the next five years. Currently, negotiations in the agriculture and services sectors are underway and a new comprehensive round of negotiations will be under serious consideration at the Ministerial Conference to be held in Qatar in November 2001. An enhanced understanding of the evolving trading system will ensure a more proactive participation on future negotiations and thereby a more equitable integration into the world trading system.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), ESCAP and UNEP began regional preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa in September 2002. The three agencies will be pooling resources in organizing a series of subregional and regional consultative meetings with Governments and civil society organizations.
From this consultative process, environment and development trends, causes and consequences of environmental problems, and issues and priorities will be defined in each subregion. This will be synthesized into a ‘platform of regional issues’ for further multi-stakeholder consultation and adoption at a regional preparatory meeting—probably in November 2001—for submission to the Johannesburg Summit.
Arsenic poses a serious pubic health threat in a number of countries in the Asian region when used in drinking water. This was one of the conclusions made at a regional expert meeting attended by 62 experts on “Geology and Health: Solving the Arsenic Crisis” convened by ESCAP 2-4 May 2001, and made possible through the strong support of UNICEF, WHO and other international organizations.
“Thousands of people in Bangladesh, China and India are already suffering from arsenicosis, with many millions more at risk through chronic exposure to contaminated drinking water. Whilst it is recognized that bacteriological contamination remains the greatest threat to human health, it was noted that in most cases arsenic contamination is related to geological settings, hence detailed surveys can provide important information to avoid contaminated water sources altogether,” a joint statement read.
The experts felt the need for a regional centre for the collation and exchange of experiences and information on arsenic contamination for the mitigation and prevention of arsenic poisoning in the affected countries and those potentially at risk. The ESCAP Secretariat was asked to play that role.
