The 64th Session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 24 to 30 April. More than 400 delegates from ESCAP’s 63 members, are expected to attend the meeting. As part of the Session’s schedule of events, ESCAP’s Environment and Sustainable Development Division will launch its latest theme study for the upcoming Commission. The study focuses on energy security and sustainable development – a key issue for many countries presently given the soaring oil prices. It reviews the status of energy in Asian and Pacific countries, reviews the importance of energy to development, and explores the possible financial requirements to meet the region’s growing energy needs. It also considers the impacts of energy development on society and the environment, and analyses options and policies that would not only allow countries to develop economically and socially, but develop within the carrying capacity of the region’s natural resources.
 

The third Millennium Development Goals (MDG) report for Asia and the Pacific will be launched at 64th session of the Commission. Building on reports in 2003 and 2005, and progress reports in 2006 and 2007, A Future Within Reach, 2008 – Regional partnerships for Millennium Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific takes stock of the achievements to date and highlights the main gaps in achieving the MDGs. It also considers how those gaps might be filled, primarily by national action, but supplemented with the information, advisory services and human and financial resources of international bodies. This report is joint effort, produced by ESCAP, the UN Development Programme and the Asian Development Bank, with the active contributions from a number of other UN agencies.

Countries from the Asia-Pacific region will consider how to address labour market issues and develop national sustainable development strategies at the tenth session of the Special Body on Pacific Island Developing Countries, which will be held in the run up to the 64th Session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), in Bangkok on 22 and 23 April. Owing to demographic changes in Pacific island developing countries and territories, more people are entering the labour market. In order to ensure that these new entrants can be gainfully employed, Governments need to implement coherent macroeconomic and social policies that increase opportunities for employment, especially in the private sector. The Special Body and the Advisory Council of the ESCAP Pacific Operations Centre will also advise the secretariat on ways to strengthen the Commissions activities in the Pacific.
 

The Fifth Asia-Pacific Business Forum will be held on 27 April at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand. The Forum – part of ESCAP's ongoing efforts to promote trade, investment and enterprise development in the Asia-Pacific region through regional cooperation – will provide a platform for high-level policy dialogue focussing on the issue of energy security, for both energy producers and energy consumers. Organized by ESCAP in collaboration with the Royal Thai Government and the Thai business community, the event is part of ESCAP's 64th Commission session. Approximately 300 business executives and 50 representatives from ESCAP member countries expected to attend.
 

Twenty undergraduate students from seven ASEAN member countries will gather at the Republic of Korea’s Daejeon University (DJU) on 1 April for the 2008 International College Student Exchange Programme. This exchange programme is a collaboration between the ASEAN University Network (AUN) and DJU, with technical support from the United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology (UN-APCICT), a subsidiary body of ESCAP. Under this programme, students have been granted full scholarships to study information and communications technology (ICT) for socio-economic development. The programme began in 2001, but this is the first year in which the emphasis is on the application of ICT for development and achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
 

ESCAP’s Statistics Division is organising a regional workshop to promote census data collection on disability. The workshop, which is organised in collaboration with the Emerging Social Issues Division of ESCAP, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), World Health Organization (WHO) and the Washington Group on Disability Statistics, will take place in Bangkok, Thailand, from 8 to 10 April. This event will bring together senior statisticians, health and disability professionals, and representatives from non-profit organizations working with people with disabilities from more than 25 Asia-Pacific countries. The workshop is part of the Division’s efforts to strengthen national statistical offices’ capacity in collecting disability statistics.