Activities of the Commissions

With effect from 26 September 2001, Ms. Keiko Okaido assumed her duties as Deputy Executive Secretary of ESCAP. Ms. Okaido, a national of Japan and an economist, has had extensive work experience in the Government of Japan, most recently as Managing Director of the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund, as well as in the multilateral arena with the World Bank Group.

Asia is well placed to benefit from globalization, the information and communications revolution, and the emergence of a new “knowledge century”, participants in the Third Asia Development Forum concluded at the end of their meeting, on 14 June 2001in Bangkok. The forum was organized by ESCAP in cooperation with the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.

As Asia starts to re-emerge as the most dynamic region in the developing world, governments, the private sector, non-governmental organizations and their partners among the multilateral institutions are seeking new ways of meeting the challenges of a more competitive era.

But while many parts of Asia possess the education, skills, experience and potential to take full advantage of the 21st century, complacency needs to be avoided, participants cautioned. Despite the many new opportunities, risks are apparent—including an increased vulnerability to economic and social crises; further marginalizing of the poor through a limited ability to access the skills and means to live in a knowledge economy; the threat of “cyber crime”; and the spread of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

This is a time, it was decided, to redouble efforts across Asia aimed at improving education and skills training, bridging the digital divide between the rural poor and emerging economic opportunities, and stimulating innovative techniques essential to the region’s chances of maintaining its competitive edge.

ESCAP to establish Regional Task Force to fight trafficking of women and children

Trafficking in women and children, the modern form of slavery, continues to pose a major problem to many countries in the Asia-Pacific region, increasingly being linked to international organized crime. While many anti-trafficking interventions have predominantly focused on socio-economic aspects, some promising legal initiatives have emerged in recent years.

In an effort to raise awareness of the range of legal instruments available to governments, the Women in Development Section of ESCAP, in collaboration with the International Organization on Migration, convened a regional seminar on “Using Legal Instruments to Combat Trafficking in Women and Children”, 1-3 August 2001 in Bangkok. Representatives from 17 countries of the region attended the seminar, demonstrating the significant political interest in the issue.

The seminar deliberations culminated in the adoption of a number of recommendations, both general in nature and specifically related to the different legal instruments, as well as to international and regional responses including requesting ESCAP to take steps to establish a Regional Task Force on Trafficking in Women and Children. The regional seminar will be followed up by sub-regional seminars in late 2001 and early 2002. The seminar report is available on the WID Section website: http://www.unescap.org/wid.

ESCAP convened the East Asia and Pacific Regional Consultation for the Second World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, in cooperation with UNICEF, ECPAT and the Government of Japan, in Bangkok from 16 - 18 October 2001. It served as a regional preparatory activity for the Second World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, to be held in Yokohama, Japan in December 2001.

The First World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation, held in Stockholm in 1986, has been instrumental in ensuring that these crimes have gained a higher profile internationally. The objectives of the Second World Congress will be to enhance political commitment to the implementation of the Agenda for Action adopted at the Stockholm Congress; review progress; share expertise and good practices; identify main problem areas and/or gaps in the fight against commercial and other forms of sexual exploitation of children; and strengthen the follow-up process of the World Congress.

ESCAP organized two policy seminars on “Cyber Crime: Threats to the New Economy”, and another on “Vulnerability and Poverty” at the Third Asia Development Forum—Asia’s Future Economy. The Forum, held from 12 - 14 June 2001 in Bangkok was organized jointly by the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank Institute, ESCAP and the World Bank with sponsorship from the Government of Japan.

The policy seminar on “Cyber Crime” discussed the emerging trends in cyber crime affecting the shape of the new economy in Asia, including electronic vandalism and terrorism, fraud, extortion and infringement of intellectual property rights, and examined appropriate best practice responses to these challenges.

The policy seminar on “Vulnerability and Poverty” focused on different dimensions of vulnerability and poverty in Asia and the Pacific. The discussions gave special emphasis on external and internal shocks and their impact at the macroeconomic as well as household levels. The objective of the Seminar was to encourage open dialogue between policy makers, academia and NGO representatives to foster greater understanding of the core issue and identify policy options.

ESCAP holds sub-regional seminar to discuss Macroeconomic Policy Analysis and Modeling in the Economies of Central Asia

Policy makers dealing with macroeconomic analysis and modelling from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan participated in a seminar on “Macroeconomic Policy Analysis and Modeling in the Economies of Central Asia”. The sub-regional seminar was organized by ESCAP in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on 20 - 22 June 2001.

The immediate objective of the seminar was to assist the Central Asian economies in strengthening national capacities in developing macroeconomic models for policy analysis. These models are capable of quantitatively evaluating macroeconomic impacts of alternative policy packages.

The Spastics Society of Tamilnadu, India, has been unanimously selected as the recipient of the 2000 ESCAP Human Resources Development (HRD) Award—“HRD for the Empowerment of People with Disabilities.” The Award carries a US$30,000 prize contributed by the Government of Japan. The annual ESCAP HRD Award recognizes exemplary work in human resources development by an NGO or individual in Asian and the Pacific region.

The Spastics Society of Tamilnadu, an NGO, was chosen as the winner of the Award for its rights-based approach to the empowerment of people with disabilities, which truly reflected ‘full participation and equality’—the spirit of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons 1993-2002, and for its wide impact in bridging the gap between grass-root groups and policy makers.

ESCAP will organize a Ministerial Conference on Infrastructure in Seoul, hosted by the government of the Republic of Korea on 12 - 17 November 2001. The Conference will be structured into two parts, namely the Senior Officials Meeting on 12 - 14 November 2001, and the Meeting of Ministers on 16 - 17 November 2001.

The meeting will review developments in transport and communications in the ESCAP region, and evaluate the implementation of the regional action programme for phase I (1997-2001) of the New Delhi Action Plan on Infrastructure Development in Asia and the Pacific. The participants will also examine emerging issues in transport, communications and infrastructure development, such as globalization and private sector participation and financing, with the view of drafting and adopting an efficient and effective implementation of the Action Plan for phase II (2002-2006) of the New Delhi Action Plan on Infrastructure Development in Asia and the Pacific. The outcome of the meeting will be the adoption of a Ministerial Declaration on Infrastructure Development in Asia and the Pacific.

Seminar evaluates income generating programmes

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A regional seminar on “Evaluation of Income/Employment Generating Programmes to Alleviate Socio-economic Impacts of the Economic Crisis” was organized by ESCAP, in Bangkok from 23 to 25 May 2001.

The seminar presented the findings of surveys, carried out by ESCAP, to evaluate the success of major national income/employment generating programmes implemented by the three countries most affected by the 1997 Asian financial crisis, namely, Indonesia, Republic of Korea and Thailand to mitigate its adverse socio-economic impacts. These specific programmes include Public Works and Microcredit Programmes in Thailand and Indonesia, and Small and Medium Enterprises and Unemployment Insurance in the Republic of Indonesia.

One of the major objectives of the evaluation exercise was to suggest improvement in the design and implementation modalities of these programmes to make them more effective during an economic downturn in particular, as well as to use them as poverty alleviation programmes in general.