ESCAP launches Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2011

Posted: Thursday, 5 May 2011, Bangkok | Author: Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific 
During an official visit to Kazakhstan this week, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Noeleen Heyzer and the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov launched ESCAP's flagship publication, the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2011.

Simultaneous launches by distinguished presenters and high-level Government officials took place in more than 28 cities in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as at UN headquarters in New York and Geneva.

According to the Survey, strong growth is projected at 7.3 per cent against last year's 8.8 per cent pulling developing countries out of the "Great Recession" of 2008/09. Still, the 2011 regional growth outlook is subject to downside risks, notably from the return of high food and fuel prices, sluggish recovery in rich nations, a deluge of volatile capital inflows and the after-effects of natural disasters, although the regional economic impact of Japan’s recent earthquake and tsunami is seen to be less severe than might have been initially expected.
"The Asia-Pacific region emerged from the global financial crisis as a growth driver and anchor of stability of the global economy," said Noeleen Heyzer. "It now has the historic opportunity to rebalance its economic structure in favour of itself to sustain its dynamism with strengthened connectivity and balanced regional development and make the twenty-first century a truly Asia-Pacific century," she added.

During her Astana visit, Noeleen Heyzer also signed an agreement with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Yerzhan Kazykhanov, establishing the ESCAP Subregional Office for North and Central Asia in the former Kazakh capital Almaty.

This Subregional Office of ESCAP better positions the UN regional arm to address sustainable and inclusive development priorities in the subregion comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

As recommended by the 66th annual ESCAP Commission Session in 2010, the new subregional centre will focus on transport and trade facilitation, water and energy management and sustainable development including green growth. It will also support "The Astana Green Bridge Initiative" endorsed by the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development organized by ESCAP in Astana on 1-2 October 2010.

Earlier this week, Heyzer joined the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev at the opening ceremony of the Fourth Astana Economic Forum (AEF) where as moderator of the opening session she highlighted the "serious and pressing" challenges before the Asia-Pacific region. She stressed the need to address "not just the problems of today, but the threats of tomorrow as well as to maximize the new opportunities of our interdependent world."

As part of the closing ceremony of the AEF, Noeleen Heyzer was conferred an Honorary Professorship by the Eurasian Economic Club of Scientists Association which consists of several economic Nobel Prize winners.