As part of ESCAP’s work in strengthening national statistical offices’ capacity to collect comparable data on disability, ESCAP Statistics Division is organizing an Expert Group Meeting on the Analysis of the Second Round of Cognitive Testing on Disability from 1 to 3 February in Bangkok. The main purpose of the Expert Group Meeting is to review the results of a second round of cognitive testing of the Washington Group/ESCAP extended question set to measure disability through surveys. The specific objectives of the EGM are to: i) discuss the results of the second round of cognitive testing of the question set on disability, in particular on the domains of communication, hearing, affect, pain and fatigue; ii) provide further training to senior Asia-Pacific statisticians on the skills required to analyze cognitive interviews; and iii) discuss future areas of work on disability data collection and measurement.

ESCAP is organizing the Trade Facilitation Workshop: Towards a National Single Window from 8 to 9 February in Kathmandu, Nepal. The Workshop is part of ESCAP’s trade facilitation capacity-building programme for Nepal, in response to a request from the Government through the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies. The objectives of the Workshop are to assess the trade facilitation environment in Nepal; foster increased understanding and exchange of views between public and private sector stakeholders; learn about and draw lessons from on-going implementation of paperless trade and Single Window initiatives in other countries in the region; and develop an action plan to facilitate Nepal’s transition to a Single Window environment. The Workshop is organized under the auspices of the United Nations Network of Experts (UNNExT) for Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific.

The 6th Session of the Governing Council of the United Nations Asian and Pacific Centre for Agricultural Engineering and Machinery (UN APCAEM), a regional institution of ESCAP, will be held on 10 February at the UN Conference Centre in Bangkok. The annual meeting will review the 2010 APCAEM work report and endorse the Centre’s work plan for 2011. Representatives from elected member countries of the Governing Council will also review the five-year strategic plan of the Centre and provide guidance on the Centre’s operation.

ESCAP’s Trade and Investment Division, in partnership with the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, Government of Nepal, will organize a National Seminar on the Prospective Benefits for Nepal in Joining the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA). The Seminar to be held in Kathmandu, Nepal on 11 February, aims to enhance awareness of the potential benefits of APTA for Nepal among various stakeholders, including government and the business sector. Representatives of APTA Participating States, including China, India and the Republic of Korea will also discuss future developments in trade cooperation between Nepal and current APTA Member States through the Regional Trade Agreement.

The Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (APCICT) will launch the Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders Programme (Academy) in India from 14 to 16 February, in partnership with India’s Department of Information Technology and the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), India’s apex civil service training institute. Over 40 trainers from LBSNAA and nine other government officers from training institutes in India will attend the First National Training of Trainers (TOT) Workshop which will deliver Academy modules 1, 3 and 4 covering trends in ICT, the role of ICT in socio-economic development, and e-Government applications. The workshop will develop a cadre of resources persons to deliver Academy training to government officials.

The following week, over 30 participants from 21 countries will attend APCICT’s fourth Regional TOT Workshop in the Republic of Korea from 22 to 26 February. The workshop will deliver training on two new, upcoming Academy modules, Module 9 – ICT for Disaster Risk Management and Module 10 – ICT and Climate Change, Green Growth and Sustainable Development, to government officials, international organization representatives and academics in the fields of ICT, Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change. Sponsored by the Korean International Cooperation Agency, the workshop will also generate feedback on the new Academy modules before they are officially launched later this year.

ESCAP’s Trade and Investment Division, in collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, Government of Nepal, will organize a High Level National Policy Dialogue on Nepal’s Long-Term Direction in Global and Regional Trade Policy on 28 February in Kathmandu, Nepal. The dialogue aims to increase awareness and knowledge among a wide array of national stakeholders of the costs and benefits to Nepal of the country’s membership of the World Trade Organization and trade policy options to increase its engagement in global and regional trade, and benefit from such trade for development.