 |
What’s
Ahead @ ESCAP |
| www.unescap.org |
November
2005 |
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Bangkok
Agreement to become Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement when Ministerial Council
meets in China
The First Session
of the Ministerial Council of the Bangkok Agreement will meet
on 2 November in Beijing, China, where Ministers are expected
to formally change the Agreement’s name to “Asia-Pacific
Trade Agreement” or APTA. Also on the agenda is the evolving
situation regarding regional trade arrangements, expansion of membership,
launch of a fourth round of preferential tariff negotiations, and
adoption of a Ministerial Declaration. China’s
Minister of Commerce
Bo Xilai
and UNESCAP
Executive Secretary Kim Hak-Su will both address the session.
Signed in 1975 as an initiative of UNESCAP, the Bangkok
Agreement is a preferential tariff arrangement aimed at promoting
intra-regional trade through an exchange of mutually-agreed concessions.
Current members of the Agreement include Bangladesh, China, India,
Republic of Korea, Lao PDR and Sri Lanka. UNESCAP’s
Trade and Investment Division functions as its Secretariat. |
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 Nobel
Laureate James Mirrlees plans lecture on “Reducing poverty now
and forever”
Professor
James A. Mirrlees, co-winner of the 1996
Nobel Prize in Economics, will give a special lecture entitled
“Reducing poverty now and forever” on 23 November
as part of the second session of UNESCAP’s Committee on Poverty
Reduction. The Nobel Committee awarded the 1996 economics prize to
Professor Mirrlees and Professor William Vickrey “for their
fundamental contributions to the economic theory of incentives under
asymmetric information.” Professor Mirrlees is well-known for
his work on social cost benefit analysis, and has written in many
other areas of economics, particularly optimal taxation, public expenditure,
economic growth models, welfare economics, income distribution, international
trade, and development issues. The Committee
on Poverty Reduction, scheduled to meet from 23-25 November
in Bangkok, will focus its attention on a number of issues related
to poverty and development, decentralization for poverty reduction,
and statistics. |
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 Officials
expected to finalize draft Agreement on Trans-Asian Railway Network
Transport officials from across the region are expected to finalize
the draft of the Intergovernmental
Agreement on the Trans-Asian Railway Network at an intergovernmental
meeting to be organized by UNESCAP from 28-30 November in
Bangkok. Once finalized,
the Agreement will be put forward for adoption by the 62nd session
of the Commission, scheduled for April 2006, and for signature at
the Ministerial Conference on Transport later next year.
The aim of the Network is to offer efficient transport services for
the movement of goods within the UNESCAP region as well as between
Asia and Europe. The project is part of the ongoing activities
of UNESCAP’s
Transport and Tourism Division to define and operationalize
an integrated, international intermodal transport system covering
the whole of Asia.
There are over 80,000 km of rail routes with international importance
that span 27 countries in the region, providing interconnectivity
across the Asian continent and improved access for landlocked countries
to its major ports. |
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 UNESCAP
delegation heads to Tunis for WSIS |
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 At
new UNESCAP Library website, information “never more than 2 clicks
away”
A
new, more user-friendly website is now available to users of UNESCAP’s
Library. The new website provides links to the UN’s
Official Document System (ODS), which offers password-free,
on-line access to full text UN documents, the UNESCAP
Library catalogue of over 80,000 books, and UNESCAP
Resolutions from 1947 to present. Besides improved search
features, the Library also offers links to training
guides and research help including “Ask a Librarian”
and research
appointments. The UNESCAP Library has the largest English-language
collection of books and periodicals in Thailand. Its collection concentrates
on subjects such as economics, development, the environment, medical
issues, and Asia-Pacific countries, and includes subscriptions to
279 journals including newspapers. The Library is open weekdays
to UN staff and those accredited to UNESCAP, as well as to external
users three days a week or by appointment. |
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 UNESCAP
and partners to unveil Pacific Renewable Energy Training Initiative
Senior
energy officials and energy planners from the Pacific islands will
meet academics and regional and international development partners
from 7-11 November in Suva, Fiji, where a Pacific
Renewable Energy Training Initiative will be unveiled. The
project stems from a concern voiced by Pacific island officials that
they lack adequate human resources and institutions to maintain and
sustain renewable energy systems and projects. The training programme
will strengthen and support existing national and sub-regional training
institutes to serve as renewable energy training providers. According
to UNESCAP, Pacific island developing states are highly vulnerable
to world oil market price fluctuations. This vulnerability, combined
with extremely difficult logistics and high fuel transportation costs,
makes renewable energy an economically and environmentally viable
alternative to conventional energy in many situations. The meeting
is being organized jointly by UNESCAP’s
Energy Resources Section, UNDP,
and the South Pacific Applied Geoscience
Commission. |
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Special
Observances and Meetings |
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The views expressed in this
publication do not necessarily reflect the official views or policies
of the United Nations. The information contained herein may be freely
reproduced. What’s Ahead at ESCAP is published monthly
by the United Nations Information Services Bangkok. Tel: +(66-2) 288-1861-66
• Fax: +(66-2) 288-1052 • E-mail: unisbkk.unescap@un.org
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