ESCAP GETS 27 PER CENT RISE IN 1996 PLEDGES FROM MEMBER STATES
Press Release
ESCAP/255
ESCAP GETS 27 PER CENT RISE IN 1996 PLEDGES FROM MEMBER STATES
19960423 BANGKOK, 18 April (United Nations Information Services) -- Member countries of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) pledged a total of $17.45 million for the Commission's 1996 work programme, regional institutions and technical cooperation projects. That amount, which excludes assistance to ESCAP from other United Nations organizations, represented an increase of $3.68 million or 27 per cent over 1995.Of the total amount contributed by bilateral donors and developing members and associate members, $10.62 million was received from eight donor countries: Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Sweden. Japan remained the largest bilateral donor to ESCAP with its contribution of about $5.73 million, followed by the Netherlands, which contributed $2.04 million.
Twenty-two developing members and associate members pledged $1.71 million to ESCAP's work programme and regional institutions. The largest donor was the Republic of Korea, which had contributed $767,864, followed by China, which contributed $337,260.
The total pledges for 1996 can be broken down into $10.45 million in cash and an estimated $7 million in kind. Extra-budgetary resources were not reflected in the pledges. Those will be received from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), other agencies of the United Nations system and other intergovernmental organizations for ESCAP-executed projects.
Poverty alleviation, transport and communications were other matters discussed on the second day of the fifty-second Commission Session. The region's poor can be helped by Governments adopting a decentralized approach to reduce poverty, delegates stressed. They emphasized a " holistic" approach, which includes all factors of the poverty dilemma, such as the status of women, environment and the role of non-governmental organizations.
Despite outstanding economic performance in a number of countries, the Asia-Pacific region remains home to an overwhelming majority of the world's poor
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estimated at about 800 million people. Policies and programmmes that sustain growth and enhance the capacity of the poor to increase their income, credit and asset endowment were encouraged by most delegates. Better health care, education, housing and a social safety net would be one result of policies and programmes aimed at empowering women and promoting their access to resources.
Science and appropriate technology in rural areas, promotion of small- and medium-scale industries in rural areas were also emphasized. "The very poor and those deprived of social justice, if allowed access to critical assets, can bring forth a revolutionary change in the quality of their lives", said the representative of Bangladesh.
Some novel ideas for poverty reduction were mentioned. Bangladesh's Grameen Bank and several similar programmes have provided collateral free credit to over 6 million women in rural areas and "these efforts along with improved health facilities and better education opportunities have collectively resulted in a significant improvement in the quality of life in 68,00 villages", said the representative from Bangladesh.
In Indonesia, a programme is under way to provide poor families in villages with grants for working capital. The grant is directly given to the community through a bank and management of the funds are left to the villagers.
Delegates expressed satisfaction towards significant progress made in ESCAP's poverty alleviation programmes which cover economic, social and urban issues with special attention given to women, disabled people, human settlements, human resources development, population growth and eradication of demand for drugs. Transport, communications and tourism were also in focus today, with delegates calling for more emphasis on the role tourism can play for economic development.
The representative of Malaysia called for greater uniformity between infrastructure and transport projects of ESCAP and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and urged the Commission to work closely with ASEAN on such projects. The representative of Thailand called on countries with experience in tourism to provide "free" expertise for the development of tourism. "Tourism is a contribution to the development of Thailand and it helps to reduce the regional disparity in income and development. Tourism should have a higher priority in ESCAP's programmes", he said.
ESCAP stressed the need for sound and sustainable transport development. An intergovernmental meeting on tourism development was scheduled for December 1996 in Singapore and a Ministerial Conference on Infrastructure Development is slated for 24 - 31 October 1996 in New Delhi, to address the need for investment in infrastructure.
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