A subregional launch of the Theme Study of this year’s Commission Session of ESCAP entitled, “Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in Asia and the Pacific” will be organised by the UN Asian and Pacific Centre for Agricultural Engineering and Machinery (UNAPCAEM) on 4 May in Beijing, China. The subregional launch will highlight China’s successes as well as on food security challenges it faces. China feeds 22 per cent of the global population on seven per cent of the world’s arable land, and remains 95 per cent self-sufficient in grain supply. China’s dramatic success in lifting millions out of poverty and food insecurity holds lessons for other developing countries seeking long-term, sustainable solutions to seemingly intractable problems of food insecurity and poverty.

Limited work opportunities in their relatively small economies have made youth unemployment a serious issue for the Pacific Island Countries. To address the issue, a series of national workshops aimed at strengthening capacity to develop national action plans for youth employment in the Pacific are being organized by the ESCAP Pacific Operations Centre (EPOC) and the International Labour Organization (ILO). An ESCAP/ILO National Youth Employment Workshop for Vanuatu will be held in collaboration with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, from 6 to 8 May, in Port Vila. It aims to identify a set of concrete actions that can be taken to assist youths to find decent work by involving representatives from local governments, unions, the private sector and civil society. The first ESCAP/ILO national workshop, held in Tarawa, Kiribati in March this year, drafted a National Action Plan on Youth Employment to create decent, productive and sustainable employment opportunities for youth. National workshops for the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea will be held later in 2009 in Honiara and Port Moresby. The workshops are in line with the recommendations of the ILO/ESCAP Subregional Workshop on Youth Employment held in Nadi, Fiji last November.

The UN Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (APCICT), a subsidiary body of ESCAP, will organize three training workshops in partnership with government agencies in Afghanistan, Indonesia and the Republic of Korea to boost information and communication technology (ICT) capacities to achieve national development goals. The first workshop, “2009 Asia Pacific Information Security Training,” co-organized with the Korea Information Security Agency will take place, from 11 to 15 May, in Seoul, Republic of Korea. The second workshop, “IT Capacity Building Programme for Women,” co-organized with Indonesia’s Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Korean Ministry of Gender will take place, from 25 to 29 May in Jakarta, Indonesia. The “National Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders Workshop in Afghanistan” will take place in Afghanistan, from 31 May to 4 June, in collaboration with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology.

ESCAP’s Trade and Investment Division and the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT) jointly with the World Bank Research Group are organizing a Regional Forum on Trade Facilitation and SMEs in Times of Crisis, from 20 to 22 May, in Beijing, China. Trade facilitation, or measures to reduce the transaction costs of moving goods across borders, can play an important role in sustaining the export competitiveness of developing countries at a time of plummeting global demand and increased competition. As SMEs have been particularly affected by the crisis, the Forum will specifically discuss their trade facilitation needs based on country studies conducted by research institutions in various developing countries of the region. Participants will have the opportunity to visit the Logistic Center of Beijing Customs at the Beijing Economy-Technology Development Area as a concrete example of how governments may take a proactive approach to trade facilitation.

ESCAP and the World Bank will co-organize a Regional Roundtable on the WTO Trade Facilitation Negotiations and Related Aid for Trade Initiatives on 22 May in Beijing, China. The Regional Roundtable will provide an opportunity for government representatives and trade facilitation experts from the region to discuss progress on the WTO trade facilitation negotiations and the achievement during the multilateral negotiations will be built into regional and national initiatives. The Roundtable will also discuss trade facilitation and the priorities and needs of countries, particularly in relation to Aid for Trade. The outcome of the Regional Roundtable will provide useful guidance to ESCAP, the World Bank and other participating international organizations and technical assistance providers in tailoring their support to the needs of the region.

A Policy Dialogue on the Impacts of the Global Economic Crisis on International Migration: Follow-up to the Asia-Pacific High-level Meeting on International Migration and Development will take place from 27 to 28 May at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand. It will be organized by the Social Policy and Population Section, Social Development Division of ESCAP in collaboration with the South East Asia Regional Office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Government representatives and experts from about 10 countries in Asia are invited to the Policy Dialogue to exchange information and experience on the impact of the global financial crisis on international migration and to discuss policy options and responses to the retrenchment of migrant workers from the perspective of countries of origin and of destination.