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

Date 21 May 2007
Press Release No. L/24/2007/CS63/18

Sixty-third session of ESCAP
Ministerial meeting

Almaty, Kazakhstan
21 May 2007

Opening statement by Mr. Kim Hak-Su,
Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic and
Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

Your Excellency the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Representatives,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to warmly welcome you to the sixty-third session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific which also commemorates 60th anniversary of its founding. This is the first time we are having the Commission session in Central Asia, in beautiful Kazakhstan which is located at the crossroads of the world’s most ancient civilizations and trade routes between East and West, North and South.

Your Excellency,

Please permit me to express my deep appreciation to you and the Government of Kazakhstan for hosting this anniversary session of the Commission in Almaty. We are honored by your presence today.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the people and the Government of Kazakhstan for their gracious hospitality and the excellent arrangements made for this meeting. We deeply value the cooperation and encouragement of Honorable Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Mr. Marat Tazhin and his team in the preparatory process.

Distinguished Delegates,

Kazakhstan has made great strides in ensuring rapid economic growth and building a completely new economic system with strengthened social institutions.  We are impressed by Your Excellency’s recent Annual Address “New Kazakhstan in a New World” which sets out the strategy for Kazakhstan’s development over the next decade. We are encouraged to learn your goal of turning Kazakhstan into a “regional locomotive” of economic development and a successful player in the regional cooperation and integration into the Asia-Pacific economies.

Your Excellency,

Your presence here today also reaffirms Kazakhstan’s commitment to the United Nations, in particular to ESCAP, which is the most representative inter-governmental forum of the Asia-Pacific region. The United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) was initiated by you, Your Excellency, along with Honorable Presidents of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in Tashkent in 1998. Later Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Afghanistan joined the programme. SPECA will commemorate its 10th anniversary next year. Economic development opportunities for SPECA member countries can be enlarged by strengthening links with the economic dynamism and high growth of Asia and the Pacific.

Distinguished delegates,

The Asia-Pacific region is home to 60 per cent of the world's people. In the past two decades, the region has made great progress on both social and economic fronts. But this overall progress masks wide disparities and stark contrasts. While hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty, one out of every three persons lives in extreme poverty in our region. In particular, improving health is crucial for tackling poverty. Half the world’s maternal deaths still occur in the region. Moreover, the region as a whole is off-track in relation to reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, with prevalence still on the rise.

2007 marks the mid-point review year of the progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, with 2015 as the target year for achieving the various goals.

The main areas of discussion in Ministerial segment are a Panel session on “Achieving the MDGs in the Asian and Pacific region” and a Ministerial Roundtable on “Development of health systems in the context of enhancing economic growth towards achieving the MDGs in Asia and the Pacific”. The panel discussion will consider a regional road map on achieving the MDGs.

We look forward to rich deliberations on the range of issues to address more efficiently the priorities of the Asia-Pacific region in promoting greater regional cooperation.

 

I thank you for your attention.

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Headquartered in Bangkok, UNESCAP is the largest of the UN's five Regional Commissions in terms of its membership, population served and area covered. The only inter-governmental forum covering the entire Asia-Pacific region, UNESCAP aims to promote economic and social progress. More information on UNESCAP is available from www.unescap.org