ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR WESTERN ASIA TO HOLD TWENTIETH MINISTERIAL SESSION, 27 - 28 MAY
Press Release
REC/54
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR WESTERN ASIA TO HOLD TWENTIETH MINISTERIAL SESSION, 27 - 28 MAY
19990528 BEIRUT, 26 May (UN Information Centre) -- Under the patronage of President Emile Lahoud, of Lebanon, the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) will hold its twentieth ministerial session from 27 to 28 May 1999 at the United Nations House, Beirut, Lebanon.The meeting, which will be opened by Prime Minister Salim El-Hoss, will be attended by: Mohamed Asfour, Minister of Industry and Commerce, Jordan; Sheikh Hamid Al-Muallah, Minister of Planning, United Arab Emirates; Abdelnabi Al-Shu'la, Minister of Labour, Bahrain; Abdelrahim Al-Subeii, Minister of Planning, Syria; Hassan Abdelmuneim Al-Khatab, Director of Planning, Iraq; Mohamed Ben Nasser Al-Khusseibi, Secretary General, Ministry of National Economy, Oman; Farouk Al-Kaddoumi, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Palestine; and Ahmed Ben Abdallah Al Mahmoud, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Qatar.
Also: Ali Moussa Al-Moussa, Minister of Planning and Minister of State for Administrative Development, Kuwait; Nasser Al-Saidi, Minister of Industry and Commerce, Lebanon; Youssef Boutros Ghali, Minister of Economy, Egypt; Nizar Ben Oubeid Madani, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, Saudi Arabia; and Ahmed Soufan, Minister for Development and Planning, Yemen. They will discuss programmatic issues and evaluate the activities of ESCWA secretariat.
Lakhdar Brahimi, United Nations Special Envoy, will represent Secretary- General Kofi Annan at this session, which will allow member countries' representatives to assess ESCWA's performance during the last 25 years. Participants will draw lessons therefrom, and also to forge a vision of the future. They will seek a revitalized role whereby the Commission would fulfil its tasks of initiating the 13 member countries to further promote regional cooperation in tackling economic and social issues. This high-level meeting coincides with the twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of ESCWA. The Economic and Social Council established the Commission in 1974 to articulate a regional framework and policies to enhance its member countries' efforts to achieve social and economic development.
The high-level meeting will also examine the new role entrusted by the United Nations to ESCWA as the system's coordinator of the regional developmental policies and activities. The twentieth session is taking place
at an especially important historic juncture, the turn of the second millennium and the advent of a third millennium. In this regard, ESCWA has undertaken a number of activities to mark these two occasions. It has elaborated a considerable number of studies that map socio-economic developments in the ESCWA region during the past 25 years. The ESCWA depicted the political and institutional developments in the Western Asia region over the same period and assessed capacity-building. It focused on the issue of peace and security.
The meeting will examine ESCWA's role as the main United Nations "think tank" in the area in coordinating the regional activities of the United Nations system. The ESCWA has played a leading role in this direction. It established, in 1995, the Regional Inter-agency Coordination Group in Amman as a forum for interaction between various United Nations organizations in the ESCWA region and as a mechanism for coordinating activities of common interest. Subsequently, the rising need for streamlining cooperation between United Nations organizations at the regional level prompted the United Nations to launch regional meetings for this purpose. The first meeting for the ESCWA region was held on 1 March 1999 in Beirut. During this meeting, ESCWA was designated as the convenor of future regional meetings. It is within this context that the relevant agenda item gains special significance.
The regional ministerial meeting will evaluate ESCWA's performance during the past 25 years to mark major developments, changes in orientation and any other landmarks in the development of the work of the organization. The ministers are expected to discuss a draft declaration entitled "Beirut Declaration: The Region of Western Asia Preparing for the Twenty-First Century". The document discusses: the role of ESCWA as a link between the regional and the global; ESCWA as a zone of economic cooperation in a region of peace and social stability; and presents conclusions and general principles for adoption by ESCWA member States.
Among the current issues of particular importance to the ESCWA region, the ministerial meeting will take up another important agenda item that deals with an issue that is of a high interest to the region -- trade efficiency in the ESCWA region.
Prior to the ministerial session, ESCWA will hold a two-day Technical Committee from 25 to 26 May. The Committee will go through all the material to be considered by the high-level segment of the regional gathering. This preparatory exercise involving ESCWA officials and their member countries' counterparts will lead to drafting a substantial report to be submitted to the ministers for their consideration and adoption.
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In addition to high-level delegations representing the 13 member countries, several United Nations and other specialized agencies not affiliated to ESCWA, along with non-governmental organizations' representatives, will also attend the meeting as observers.
The twentieth session, a portion of which will be dedicated to marking ESCWA's twenty-fifth anniversary by holding a cultural celebration, affords the opportunity to assess the past and also mark a beginning. Another dimension of the session, connected with the ESCWA jubilee, is reflected in the cultural dimension of the celebrations, which will commence with an exhibition of art in the ESCWA region during the past 25 years and end with artistic performances, including dance, music and song.
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