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ESCAP-ENEA Subregional Newsletter MaRch 2019
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New Head of ENEA takes Office (as of January 2019)
7 January 2019, Incheon, Republic of Korea
Mr. Ganbold Baasanjav, the new Head of the UNESCAP East & North East Asia Office, officially took office on 7 January 2019 in Incheon, Republic of Korea.
Prior to UNESCAP, he has worked extensively for the Government of Mongolia: he was Ambassador-at-large for Sustainable Development for the Ministry of Foreign of Affairs (2018) and has served as the Ambassador to the Republic of Korea (2013-2018) and to Viet Nam (2004-2008); he has additionally served as Director General of the Asia-Pacific Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2008-2013), as State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2001-2003), and as Director-General to the Public Affairs Department, Ministry of External Relations (1998-2000).
Mr. Baasanjav is fluent in English, Korean and Russian, and earned his BA in International Relations from Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Russian Federation, an MA in Political Science from University of Hawaii, United States of America, and a PhD in Law from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Republic of Korea.
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International Workshop for Guangzhou’s Low-carbon Strategy
25 January 2019, Guangzhou, China
UNESCAP East & North East Asia Office in partnership with the Innovative Green and Development Programme (iGDP) organized the International Consultation Workshop for Guangzhou’s Low-carbon strategy on 25 January 2019 in Guangzhou under the NEASPEC North-East Asia Low Carbon City Platform (NEA-LCCP). The NEA-LCCP, launched in 2015, is designed to promote low-carbon policy knowledge sharing and peer-learning among experts from government, the private sector and research institutes. To better understand the low-carbon development in China at city level, NEA-LCCP has conducted the first peer review exercise for Wuhan in June 2018 and the second peer review workshop for Guangzhou in January 2019.
The workshop brought together around 40 international and local experts from fields of urban green and low-carbon development and reviewed progress of Guangzhou's Green and Low-carbon Development Strategy and discussed the medium- and long-term pathways and relevant market-based mechanism/financial support for urban green and low-carbon development.
The workshop was successful in exposing workshop participants to new knowledge about low carbon city policy in Guangzhou and North-East Asia. The final peer review report for Guangzhou City is being developed in partnership with iGDP and will be presented to the 23rd Senior Officials Meeting of NEASPEC tentatively in September 2019.
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UNESCAP Executive Secretary Visit to Republic of Korea 2019
13-15 February 2019, Seoul, Republic of Korea
UNESCAP Executive Secretary Armida Alisjahbana made her first official visit to the Republic of Korea since her inauguration in November of last year from 13 to 15 February. As an outcome of a series of bilateral meetings with senior government representatives, she agreed on implementing the “Strategic Cooperation between the ROK and UNESCAP” with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which sets the strategic directions for collaboration between the two. She also signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Ministry of Interior and Safety and a Memorandum of Understanding with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), which strengthened partnerships between UNESCAP and the Republic of Korea on key sustainable development issues, including disaster resilience, gender equality and connectivity in the region.
Ms. Alisjahbana additionally participated in a high-level panel at the Global Engagement & Empowerment Forum on Sustainable Development where she called for greater efforts in gender equality in the region, underscoring that, “growing disparities in income and wealth disproportionately affect women and vulnerable groups. Addressing such gaps is not only a matter of attaining fundamental rights for women, but also critical to inclusive and sustainable economic growth.”
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Report Launch in conjunction with the First Training Workshop on STI Policies for Sustainable Development in the 4th Industrial Revolution
18-22 March 2019, Incheon & Sejong, Republic of Korea
Jointly organized by UNESCAP East and North-East Asia Office, Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI) of the Republic of Korea and the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on STI Policy (ARTNET on STI), the Training Workshop on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Policies for Sustainable Development in the Fourth Industrial Revolution was held Incheon and Sejong, Republic of Korea, from 19-22 March 2019.
The event served as an introductory programme to develop effective STI policies aligned with the SDGs in the context of rapid technological change and was attended by over 50 STI policy officials and experts. The workshop focused on: creating STI policy that integrates economic, social and environmental dimensions; formulating STI policy responses to frontier technologies and the 4th Industrial Revolution; and fostering innovation in the public sector to change how policy is created and the way services are delivered.
The training workshop followed an Expert Group Meeting on STI policy and the launch of the report, “Evolution of Science, Technology and Innovation Policies for Sustainable Development: The Experiences of China, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Singapore” on 18 March 2019. The report tracks the trajectories of STI policies in the four countries from pre-industrial development to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and their progressive shift towards supporting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through STI policy.
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Upcoming ESCAP East and North-East Asia Office Events
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NEASPEC North-East Asia Low Carbon City Platform Comparative Study Final Review Meeting
12 April 2019
Incheon, Republic of Korea
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Asia Carbon Footprint Network Training Workshop and Project Meeting
23-24 April 2019
Shah Alam, Malaysia
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NEASPEC/NEAMPAN Project Review Meeting
30 April 2019
Incheon, Republic of Korea
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Citypreneurs Shanghai
11-12 June 2019
Shanghai, China
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NEASPEC Desertification and Land Degradation: Expert Group Meeting on North-East Asia Multi-stakeholder Plan (NEAMSP) and Side Event during the Asia Pacific Forestry Week
18-19 June 2019
Incheon, Republic of Korea
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NEAPEC NEAMPAN Project Meeting
Late June 2019 (tbc)
Incheon, Republic of Korea
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