..Press Release................................ UNESCAP News Services

Date 16 May 2005
Press Release No: G/CS61/08/2005

61ST COMMISSION SESSION BEGINS

Tsunami recovery dependent on regional, collective efforts

BANGKOK (United Nations Information Services) - Abject poverty, wide income disparities and lack of development provide a fertile feeding ground for transnational organized crime such as drug trafficking, arms trafficking and human trafficking, Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Mr. Chaturon Chaisang told delegates attending the opening session of the Ministerial Segment of the 61st Commission Session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) in Bangkok today.

Mr. Chaturon Chaisang said that the UN is best placed to help tackle non-traditional threats to the “twin regional goals of sustainable economic growth and reducing socio-economic inequality.

“Thailand considers the United Nations system, in particular UNESCAP in this region, the best framework for coordinating collective action,” he said.

United Nations Secretary-General Mr. Kofi Annan, in a special message to the delegates said that this year the United Nations not only marks the 60th anniversary of its founding at the end of the Second World War. “It is also a year in which we are thinking ahead, and engaging in a constructive debate about the future: how to defeat poverty, how to build a collective system able to meet our common threats, and how to increase respect for human dignity in every land.”

Although the tsunami and other natural disasters highlighted the extreme vulnerability of the disadvantaged communities, UNESCAP economies had an impressive economic performance in 2004 with a growth rate of 7.2 per cent, the highest since 2000, said Mr. Kim Hak-Su, Executive Secretary of ESCAP in his policy statement.

“The impressive economic performance reaffirms the resilience of the regional economy in the face of a series of on-going and new challenges such as the record rises in nominal crude oil prices, which contributed to a reversal in inflationary expectations,” said Mr. Kim.

Ministers and senior officials from 48 member and associate member countries and territories of UNESCAP are attending the Ministerial Segment of the 61st Commission Session. The delegates unanimously elected H.E. Mr. K.K. Tokaev, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan as the Chairman of the 61st Commission Session.

With this year’s theme topic of Implementing the Monterrey Consensus in the Asian and Pacific Region: Achieving Coherence and Consistency, the Ministers will deliberate on policy issues and challenges facing the UNESCAP region in key areas of action set out in the Monterrey Consensus as well as on recent economic and social developments.

They will also debate two proposals tomorrow at a Ministerial Roundtable on Financing for Development, on the creation of an Asian Investment Bank to help bridge the shortfall in financing the region’s infrastructure needs, and the adoption by UNESCAP of a two-track approach to foster capacity-building and coordination.

The Ministerial Segment began Monday, 16 May with a High-level Panel on Tsunami Recovery Development with Ministers from tsunami affected countries including Thailand, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Malaysia and Sri Lanka examining emerging issues in regional cooperation in natural disaster reduction.

“We must promote community based disaster risk management. We aim to link rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts to risk management for sustainable economic growth,” said Mr. Kim Hak-Su, Executive Secretary of UNESCAP.

Indonesia’s State Minister for National Development Planning and Chairperson of the National Development Planning Agency, Ms. Sri Mulyani Indrawati, called for a regional instrument on disaster management and relief efforts.

The role of UNESCAP was highlighted by India’s Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Mr. E.V.K.S Elangovan who said, “UNESCAP can play an active role using Space Technology Application for disaster management, and help overcome gaps in capability to prepare for and respond to natural disasters.”

The Session will conclude on 18 May with the adoption of a report containing resolutions and a summary of the discussions.

NOTE TO EDITORS

Please kindly be reminded that there will be a Press Briefing of the conclusion of the 61st Commission Session by Mr. Kim Hak-Su, Executive Secretary of UNESCAP, and the Conference Chairman on Wednesday, 18 May at 11:00 to 12:00 am at the UNCC Theatre. All media representatives are cordially invited to attend.

For further information please contact:

Mr. David Lazarus
UN Information Services Bangkok
Tel: +(66-2) 288-1861-69, Fax: +(66-2) 288-1052
E-mail: unisbkk.unescap@un.org
http://www.unescap.org/

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