Republic of Korea
The Republic of Korea (ROK) has been one of the key partners of ESCAP through the Korea-ESCAP Cooperation Fund (KECF), established in 1987, regular partnerships with over 25 national Korean agencies, various joint initiatives comprising of all programmatic areas of ESCAP, and the secondment of government officials. With a total funding of US$14 million during the last three decades, KECF has been one of the main consistent long-term partnership modalities. In February 2019, ROK and ESCAP strengthened this partnership by adopting a strategic framework for aligning future collaboration towards agreed priorities and more concrete outcomes in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This strategic framework – Strategic Cooperation Between the Republic of Korea and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (adopted on 15 February 2019), defines three thematic priories, including leave no one behind, environmental sustainability and connectivity for the 2030 Agenda as well as two regional priorities, which are ASEAN and East and North-East Asia. The Republic of Korea also hosts the ESCAP Subregional Office for East and North-East Asia (SRO-ENEA) and the ESCAP Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (APCICT), both located in Incheon.
China
The People’s Republic of China and ESCAP P enjoy a long-standing partnership through the China-ESCAP Cooperation Programme (CECP), with an increasing annual contribution of US$ 3.1 million, as well as the partnerships with a number of Chinese agencies and under the Memorandum of Understanding between ESCAP and China on the Belt and Road Initiative for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (signed in April 2019). The joint priority areas include SDGs, regional connectivity, gender, disability, ageing, and environment. China also hosts the Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanisation (CSAM) in Beijing, and also contributes to the several other ESCAP regional institutions, the Trust Fund for the Decade of Disabled Persons and the North-East Asian Subregional Programme for Environmental Cooperation (NEASPEC).
Japan
Japan and ESCAP enjoy a long-standing partnership through Japan-ESCAP Cooperation Fund (JECF), established in 1978 and with a number of Japanese agencies. Japan remains one of the main partners supporting ESCAP’s technical cooperation activities on disaster risk reduction, including through the ESCAP Multi-donor Trust Fund on Tsunami, Disaster and Climate Preparedness, space technology, disability, business sector development and agricultural machinery. Japan host ESCAP’s Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP), based in Chiba, and provides annually US$ 1.7 million and in-kind contribution annually for its operations and technical cooperation activities.
Russian Federation
The partnership between the Russian Federation and ESCAP is based on the long-term trust fund agreement with the annual contribution of US$ 1.2 million in support of the ESCAP technical cooperation programme. The main collaboration areas include energy, transport, environment, climate change, migration, information technologies, statistics, trade and SDGs. Within the overall regional context, the primary focus is on the countries in North and Central Asia. In addition, the Russian Federation supports the North-East Asian Subregional Programme for Environmental Cooperation initiative and the Marine Protected Areas initiative facilitated by the ESCAP Subregional Office for East and North-East Asia.
India
The partnership between India and ESCAP is mainly focused on a fewer strategic areas such as transfer of technology and disaster risk reduction. In 2014, India made a voluntary contribution of US$ 1.0 million to the Multi-donor Trust Fund on Tsunami, Disaster and Climate Preparedness, in particular to strengthen early warning systems for coastal hazards. India also hosts the ESCAP Subregional Office for South and South-West Asia (SRO-SSWA) and the ESCAP Asia and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology.
Islamic Republic of Iran
The partnership between the Islamic republic of Iran and ESCAP focuses on disaster risk reduction. Iran hosts ESCAP’s Asian and the Pacific Centre for the Development of Disaster Information Management (APDIM), which is in Tehran and was inaugurated in December 2018. Iran’s total support amounts to US$ 4.0 million. APDIM serves as a knowledge and information repository for all disaster related data in the region, lead on capacity development and knowledge sharing and deliver information services for cross-border disasters in Asia and the Pacific.
Canada
The partnership between Canada and ESCAP supports a regional initiative on catalysing women’s entrepreneurship with the total funding of CAD 13.8 million. The regional initiative deploys a multi-pronged approach, including an enabling environment for women to build and grow their businesses, improved access to financial services and capital, as well as increased use of ICT tools and innovative technology in their business operations. In past, Canada supported ESCAP’s capacity development activities in the area of trade policy and research.
Germany
The partnership between Germany and ESCAP primarily focuses on urban development and disaster risk reduction with total funding of US$ 3.2 million. Under urban development, the collaboration has yielded in implementing and institutionalising an integrated approach to resource management, so-called the Urban Nexus, in some 28 cities across Asia. The focus is on energy, water and waste. Innovative, cross-sectorial engineering solutions have been introduced considering their investment as well as operation and maintenance costs, the latter to be borne by the local governments.
Sweden
The partnership between Sweden and ESCAP primarily focuses on the multi-stakeholder partnerships for SDGs. In the past, Sweden supported ESCAP’s capacity development initiatives on disaster risk reduction, corporate social responsibility and statistics. Sweden (together with Thailand) was one of the founding countries Multi-donor Trust Fund on Tsunami, Disaster and Climate Preparedness, with the seed funding of some US$3.2 million. ESCAP has been working closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has partnered with ESCAP to improve economic statistics through a dedicated regional programme with the UK’s contribution of US$ 2.2 million. The objective of the support is to increase the availability of high quality economic statistics and improve the capacity of national statistical systems to produce quality economic statistics, including with technical assistance focused on South and South-East Asia.