Press Release No. G/16/00, BS/14/00
5 June 2000

It gives me great pleasure to convey my greetings to the delegations attending the fifty-sixth session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

This session is particularly timely, coming as it does on the heels of the WTO meeting in Seattle and UNCTAD X in Bangkok earlier this year. As we enter the new millennium, our overarching challenge is to manage the risks and seize the opportunities of globalization. No region in the world should be without a plan of action designed to ensure that the benefits of globalization are shared by all. Your responsibilities for the Asia-Pacific region are formidable and clear.

The powerful forces of globalization have ushered in faster economic growth, higher living standards, accelerated innovation and rapid diffusion of technology. But globalization has also meant greater vulnerability to unfamiliar and unpredictable forces that can bring on economic instability and social dislocation. Concern and anxieties about these negative effects cannot be ignored.

Globalization must mean more than creating bigger markets. It must be about the inclusion and integration of all countries and all people into the global economy, the international trading system, and global society in general.

ESCAP has an important catalytic role to play in this process. Sound governance practices and stable institutions will be rendered that much more effective if they are supported by mechanisms at the regional, sub-regional and national levels. I emphasized this point in my discussions at the ASEAN-UN Summit in Bangkok earlier this year, and I urge you to take this into consideration when discussing possible action in the region.

Your region faces a range of complex and pressing issues. I have confidence that you can make important contributions to our common progress. In that spirit, please accept my best wishes for the success of your important deliberations.