Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will visit ESCAP on 10 December, on his way to the Bali Climate Change Conference. Mr. Ban is scheduled to have a dialogue with UN staff working in the region on his development and reform agenda, and to deliver a keynote address on “Climate change, green growth and inclusive development” at a meeting which will bring together representatives of UN entities, international organizations, Thai government, diplomatic corps, the civil society and the media. During his three-day official visit to Thailand, the Secretary-General will meet with the Prime Minister and will have an audience with H.M. the King.

The Trade and Investment Division of ESCAP will hold a High-level Expert Meeting on Reducing Poverty by Promoting Industrial Development through Trade Facilitation in Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, on 6 and 7 December. Participants will identify trade obstacles which affect industrial development and explore the possibility of establishing a regional platform for trade facilitation (Asia-Pacific Forum for Efficient Trade). This event will be organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. About thirty senior government officials from South, South East and East Asian countries are expected to attend.

ESCAP to help member countries use IT for censuses

To help the Asia-Pacific region prepare for the 2010 round of population and housing censuses, the Statistics Division of ESCAP will convene an Expert Group Meeting on Effective Use of IT in Population Censuses from 10 to 12 December 2007 in Bangkok. The meeting will review the experiences in using IT during the previous censuses and assess innovations that are ripe to be made use of during the next round. It will prepare recommendations that would provide guidance to national statistical offices and census offices in Asia and the Pacific on how to make better use of IT in collecting, editing, storing, analysing and disseminating population census data. The meeting is also expected to recommend on how ESCAP and its partners could facilitate the exchange of related good practices among countries of the region. Experts from 17 countries and several partner agencies are expected to participate in the meeting. More effective use of IT in population censuses in the region will lead to better quality and more timely dissemination of census data, which are critical for evidence-based policy planning.

The Trade and Investment Division of ESCAP and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) will hold a two-day workshop on e-trade standards and tools designed to streamline customs processes. Adoption of standardized electronic trade documents could tremendously reduce customs paperwork, resulting in savings of about US$ 550 million per year globally. The workshop, which will be held in Bangkok on 10 and 11 December, will introduce a new international solution for paperless trade - United Nations electronic Trade Documents. It will also launch the ESCAP-ECE Regional Network of Experts for Paperless Trade. The Network will assist the Asia-Pacific countries to build expertise in implementing UNeDocs and other international standards for paperless trade. The workshop will be followed by three days of hands-on technical training, from 12 to 14 December 2007.

The Expert Group Meeting on the Provision of ICT Access for Disadvantaged Communities through Public-Private Partnership will be held at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok from 12 to 14 December. At the meeting, experts from academia, government, non-governmental organizations and the private sector will share experiences on public-private partnerships (PPP) for the provision of ICT access for disadvantaged communities. The experts will focus their attention on community e-centres. The meeting, organized by the Information, Communication and Space Technology Division (ICSTD) of ESCAP, will highlight the regional role of PPP in providing ICT access to disadvantaged communities. In addition, participants at the meeting will examine and share experiences on related issues such as policies and legislation, provision of ICT infrastructure, financing ICT access, perspectives on gender and persons with disabilities and recommend strategies for building partnerships for the provision of ICT access for disadvantaged communities.