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Photo credit: Unsplash/Viki Mohamad Blog

High prices of essential goods and services have become a pressing issue for the poor and vulnerable in Asia and the Pacific despite decent economic growth and declining inflationary trends so far in…

Photo credit: iStockphoto/Nuthawut Somsuk Blog

Economic performance in Asia and the Pacific has proved to be quite resilient to the shocks of the past few years – the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and the cost-of-living…

Photo credit: Adobe Stock/Lazy_Bear Blog

Several Asia-Pacific countries are ageing fast. This transition is neither unique nor limited to the region - it is a global megatrend. However, this time it is different. Why? Because ageing…

Photo credit: Shutterstock/Vietnam Stock Images Blog

In the Asia-Pacific region, due to urban sprawl and transport infrastructure characteristics, the distance from a location to a public transport node is often longer than the 500m mark to…

ESCAP Photo/Madan Regmi Blog

As cities in Asia and the Pacific continue to expand, the demand for transport services to accommodate commuters is increasingly challenging. Integration of public transport systems has emerged as a…

ESCAP Photo/Anant Jha Blog

Bhutan is one of two countries globally that maintains a carbon-neutral status and is the only country in the Asia-Pacific region that can claim this title. However, as the country recovers from the…

Photo credit: iStockphoto/RomoloTavani Blog

More and more developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region are struggling under mounting public debt, making it difficult for them to invest in sustainable development.

External debt servicing…

iStockphoto/Cyano66 Op-ed

The unprecedented fiscal firepower used to protect the vulnerable from the harsh socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic contraction have pushed the average…

Op-ed

After two years of human devastation, the world is learning to live with COVID-19 while trying to balance the protection of public health and livelihoods.

For countries in Asia and the Pacific,…

Photo credit: Adobe Stock/Gajus Blog

Emerging from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economy has been shaken yet again, this time by geopolitical events that threaten to set back the nascent post-COVID-19 economic recovery,…

Photo credit: Shutterstock/Przemyslaw Skibinski Blog

The Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) are among the most vulnerable countries in the world to the impacts of climate change. The World Risk Index 2021 ranks several Pacific Island…

Photo credit: Shutterstock/Chuyuss Blog

The inauguration of 414 km electrified standard gauge Lao-China railway line has a potential to change the dynamics of international transport among the ASEAN member States and beyond.

The railway…

Jeepney a popular indigenous paratransit in Manila (Photo credit: Dorina Pojani) Blog

Asia and the Pacific is a region where diverse modes of transport play special roles in facilitating mobility. Mass transit modes (trains, trams, Bus Rapid Transit and ordinary buses) coexist with…

Photo credit: istockphoto/tampatra Blog

Even as Asia and the Pacific continues to be the fastest growing region in the world, economic growth has been slowing since the 2008 global financial crisis. Add the COVID-19 pandemic to the mix,…

Photo credit: Shutterstock/alex_aladdin Op-ed

Transport ministers from across Asia and the Pacific are meeting this week to consider a potentially transformational agenda for how people and goods are moved around the region and across the globe…

Photo credit: iStockphoto/teppakorn tongboonto Blog

In the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, transport stands out as a continuous challenge as well as a tremendous opportunity for transitioning to economic, social and…

Shutterstock/TZIDO SUN Blog

Economic and non-economic shocks such as financial crises, natural disasters, and pandemics leave behind permanent scars in economies and societies and result in major setbacks to development gains…

Photo credit: iStock/tudiocasper Op-ed

The world is emerging from the biggest social and economic shock in living memory, but it will be a long time before the deep scars of the COVID-19 pandemic on human well-being fully heal.

In the…

iStock / Elena Odareeva Blog

In most people’s eyes, a car, a bus, a train, or a motorcycle are simply forms of transport. But they can also be seen as part of a wider transport and mobility ecosystem that helps and sometimes…

UNICEF Op-ed

The Pacific Island Developing State of Vanuatu has emerged as one of the region’s great success stories. Vanuatu has joined the ranks of Samoa and the Maldives as one of only six countries to…