The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the regional arm of the United Nations, is engaged in promoting economic and social development and regional cooperation in the Asian and Pacific region. It was established in 1947 in Shanghai, China, as the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) to assist in the regional reconstruction efforts of countries devastated by the Second World War. The Commission moved its headquarters to the present location, Bangkok, in 1949. The Commission's name was changed to ESCAP in 1974 to reflect the broadened scope of its work to include social aspects of economic development and the interrelationship of the economic and social factors as well as the enlarged membership and geographic coverage of the Commission. During the past 50 years, ESCAP has expanded its activities, in response to the evolving and increasingly complex development needs of the region.

ESCAP has 51 member and 9 associate member Governments, representing over 60 per cent of the world's population or 3.5 billion people. Its membership includes highly industrialized nations such as Japan and Australia; newly industrialized economies such as the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong, China; the economies in transition such as the Central Asian Republics as well as 13 of the world's least developed countries. ESCAP plays a unique role as the only intergovernmental forum for all the countries of the Asian and Pacific region. It closely collaborates with subregional organizations such as the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), the Forum Secretariat (FORSEC), and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community. ESCAP's main functions are: (a) to carry out in-depth research and analysis on pressing problems in the region; (b) to collect and disseminate social, economic and development data and information; (c) to foster the exchange of information and experiences both at the policy-making and the technical levels; and (d) to render technical and advisory assistance in response to the emerging needs of developing countries. ESCAP gives special attention to the needs of the least developed, landlocked and island developing countries as well as the economies in transition. The ultimate goal of ESCAP is to bring the region's disadvantaged countries and territories into the economic mainstream, thus reducing poverty and improving the quality of life of the people of the region.

ESCAP's highest legislative body is the Commission, which meets annually at the ministerial level, and reports to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). It provides a forum for all Governments of the region to interact on economic and social issues and to promote regional cooperation. The five committees subsidiary to the Commission meet annually or biennially, as determined by the Commission, to consider important issues related to regional economic cooperation; socio-economic measures to alleviate poverty in rural and urban areas; environment and natural resources development; transport, communications, tourism and infrastructure development; and statistics. Two special bodies on least developed and landlocked developing countries; and Pacific island developing countries meet in alternate years immediately before the annual Commission session to address specific problems faced by those countries. ESCAP has eight divisions dealing with development research and policy analysis; trade and investment; industry and technology; social development; population and rural and urban development; environment and natural resources development; transport, communications, tourism and infrastructure development; and statistics. In addition, ESCAP has a subregional centre for the Pacific subregion, known as ESCAP Pacific Operations Centre (ESCAP/ POC) located in Port Vila, Vanuatu.

Under ESCAP’s auspices, three regional research and training institutions operate in the fields of agricultural development (Regional Co-ordination Centre for Research and Development of Coarse Grains, Pulses, Roots and Tuber Crops in the Humid Tropics of Asia and the Pacific (CGPRT)), statistics (Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP)) and technology transfer (Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology (APCTT)).