The Asian Highway database is a joint effort by the secretariat and member countries to monitor the development of the Asian Highway network. The Asian Highway database includes comprehensive and detailed data and information on Asian Highway routes in member countries and benchmarks their development status against the Asian Highway design standards stipulated in Annex II to the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Asian Highway Network.
The Statistical Yearbook 2014 is an electronic file only, it consists of (1) short analytical texts on 32 selected diverse topics, such as population, education, health, poverty and inequalities, gender, economy, environment and connectivity in the region and related key messages as well as relevant data tables, and (2) country profiles of main development indicators for each of the 58 regional member countries/areas of ESCAP.
The Statistical Yearbook is accompanied by the following products:
The November 2014 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting in Beijing has generated momentum behind the proposed Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP). This note reviews the prospects for the FTAAP which are strongly linked to progress in two other large regional trade agreements currently under discussion: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
This handbook serves three purposes, namely: i) to identify best practices in responsible and sustainable banking and finances; ii) to raise awareness and undertake policy advocacy in the area of responsible banking and finance; and iii) to serve as a tool for undertaking capacity development through training and other pertinent programmes. The approach taken to producing this handbook has been to highlight three aspects, namely: i) corporate governance; ii) corporate social responsibility; and iii) corporate sustainability, as they pertain to banks and financial institutions.
This paper examines the agenda of this year’s G20 Brisbane summit – namely, to promote strong economic growth and employment outcomes and to make the global economy more resilient to future shocks – in the context of key policy debates in the Asia-Pacific region and the discussions of the United Nations post-2015 development agenda. In particular, priority areas related to investment and infrastructure, trade, employment, financial inclusion and remittances, financial regulatory reforms, international tax cooperation and anti-corruption measures, and energy markets are explored.
An official statistician reading the proposal of the Open Working Group (OWG) for Sustainable Development Goals might have two simultaneous reactions: doubt and excitement. The proposal that the UN General Assembly’s 30-member OWG forwarded to the Assembly on 19 July 2014 contains 17 goals with 169 targets covering a broad range of sustainable development issues, including ending poverty and hunger, improving health and education, making cities more sustainable, combating climate change, and protecting oceans and forests.
This note reviews the emerging imbalances in the Chinese economy and the attendant need for structural reforms, including financial sector and services liberalization. The role that the recently launched Shanghai Free Trade Zone could play in accelerating these reforms is then considered, alongside an assessment of progress to date.
Bridging Transport, ICT and Energy Infrastructure Gaps for Seamless Regional Connectivity, is a contribution by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) to deliberations at the Second United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) in Vienna, Austria, from 3 to 5 November 2014.
