AT ESCAP REGIONAL COORDINATION MEETING, DEPUTY-SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR CLOSE UN COOPERATION WITH REGIONAL GROUPINGS
Press Release
REC/58
AT ESCAP REGIONAL COORDINATION MEETING, DEPUTY-SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR CLOSE UN COOPERATION WITH REGIONAL GROUPINGS
19990604 BANGKOK, 4 June (UN Information Service) -- Problems of inequity, poverty, human rights and environment are among the top challenges facing the Asian and Pacific region in the coming years, according to Louise Fréchette, Deputy-Secretary General of the United Nations.The Deputy Secretary-General called upon the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP) to lead the process of identifying the "advocacy agenda" for the United Nations system in the region, taking into account the specific needs at the subregional level.
Chairing a Regional Coordination Meeting for the ESCAP region of various United Nations bodies and specialized agencies on June 2 at Bangkok, Ms. Fréchette said that the United Nations, in searching for ways to become more effective, needed to address these long-term challenges and focus on countries sharing the preoccupying indicators of poverty in the world.
Ms. Fréchette pointed out that some of the challenges required region- wide cooperation, and high priority should be placed on forging closer collaboration with the main intergovernmental groupings in the region, such as the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the South Pacific Commission.
"Clear criteria for deciding the type of United Nations system's cooperation need to be identified, bearing in mind the interest of the countries and governments concerned", Ms. Fréchette said.
The Regional Coordination Meeting was attended by 18 United Nations regional bodies, specialized agencies and multilateral financial institutions with a total of 25 participants, and convened by ESCAP. The objective of the Meeting was to propose ways and means for improving the collective response, in a well coordinated manner, by the United Nations system, to the needs of the Asian and Pacific region.
Ms. Fréchette noted that ESCAP was the only rgional cmmission to have established, since 1994, a formal coordination mechanism called "Regional Inter-Agency Committee for Asia and the Pacific" (RICAP) for consultations between various bodies and specialized agencies in the United Nations system
- 2 - Press Release REC/58 4 June 1999
working in the region. The Deputy Secretary-General said that ESCAP should lead the work to reexamine the functioning of RICAP and shape its committee structure according to the advocacy agenda identified.
One of the other conclusions of the Regional Coordination Meeting, according to Ms. Fréchette, was that each United Nations agency in the region would need to look at its own regional structure, with a view to increased harmonization with intergovernmental machineries and with the United Nations.
The Regional Coordination Meeting for the ESCAP region was mandated by Economic and Social Council resolution 1998/46. Similar meetings had been held earlier in the other four regional commissions (Geneva, Beirut, Nairobi and Santiago).
* *** *