ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL TAKES ACTION ON TEXTS RECOMMENDED BY ESCAP AND ECLAC

Press Release
ECOSOC/5924

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL TAKES ACTION ON TEXTS RECOMMENDED BY ESCAP AND ECLAC

The Economic and Social Council this afternoon adopted a strategy for using space technology in service of sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific. The Council took that action without a vote on the recommendation of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), while continuing its consideration of regional cooperation within the general segment of its 2000 substantive session.

The draft was one of three the Council adopted without a vote on ESCAP’s recommendation this afternoon. By the resolution, the Council endorsed the outcome of the Second Ministerial Conference on Space Technology Applications for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific for the New Millennium (New Delhi, 1999). It also endorsed the Delhi Declaration on Space Technology Applications in Asia and the Pacific for Improved Quality of Life in the New Millennium. Those strategies and mechanisms centre on strengthening capability and mobilizing resources for technical cooperation activities.

Also adopted by the Council on ESCAP’s recommendation this afternoon was a draft by which ESCAP’s terms of reference were amended to include Georgia in its geographic scope and admit it as an ESCAP member. By a third draft, the Council proclaimed 2000-2009 as the Decade of Greater Mekong Subregion Development Cooperation. With that, the Council drew attention to intensified socio-economic development for the subregion and encouraged support for it.

In addition this afternoon, also without a vote, the Council adopted two drafts on the recommendation of its Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). By the first, it endorsed establishment of an ECLAC Statistical Conference of the Americas as an ECLAC subsidiary body to improve and regularize national statistics work. By another draft, the Council accepted Brazil’s invitation to hold ECLAC’s twenty-ninth session in that country and approved the holding of that session in the first half of 2002.

On the recommendation of relevant functional commissions, the Council took note of other items in the commissions’ reports. It noted a shift in focus for operational activities of its Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), a regional perspective on energy for sustainable development adopted by

Economic and Social Council - 1a - Press Release ECOSOC/5924 39th Meeting (PM) 25 July 2000

ESCAP, and a resolution regarding Mexico, on equity, development and citizenship adopted by ECLAC.

Finally this afternoon, the Council decided to authorize the Committee on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to hold a resumed 2000 session for a half- day on Thursday, 27 July, to consider a reply received from the NGO whose consultative status was recommended for suspension.

In other business, the Council considered the Secretary-General’s reports on regional cooperation, which were introduced by Danuta Hubner, the Executive Secretary of the ECE and the current coordinator of the regional commissions.

Statements this afternoon were made by the representatives of Belarus, Croatia, Mongolia, China, France, Nauru, Republic of Korea, Poland, Russian Federation, United States, Colombia, Romania, Japan and Rwanda.

The Council will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 26 July, to continue the general segment of its 2000 substantive session by considering economic and environmental questions.

Economic and Social Council - 3 - Press Release ECOSOC/5924 39th Meeting (PM) 25 July 2000

Council Work Programme

The Economic and Social Council met this morning to continue its general segment and consider regional cooperation in the economic, social and related fields.

(For background information, see Press Release ECOSOC/5923 of 25 July.)

Statements

DANUTA HUBNER, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) and Coordinator of the regional commissions, introduced the report of the Secretary-General on regional cooperation in the economic, social and related fields (document E/2000/10 and addenda 1-3).

She said the report should provide a detailed account of the commissions’ main area of work. What had also been underscored was the dual role of the commissions: as both outposts of the United Nations and parts of the original landscape of their respective regions. She drew the Council’s attention to the various summaries of economic surveys before them, which covered and analysed the major regional issues at hand. One of the current proposals being advanced was that next year’s reports should focus on new developments and work being undertaken by the various regional commissions.

JELENA GRCIC POLIC (Croatia) said the ECE had performed very well in its bread and butter role of “norms and standards setting”. It had also fostered regional economic cooperation through its work on policy convergence and normative instruments. The ECE continued to play an important role in supporting and exploring the process of economic transition, which affected many Member States.

She said it went without saying that transition was much more than an economic process, impacting on most aspects of life from social development to institution-building and the rule of law. By implementing appropriate policies, an enabling environment could be created, for example, for private flows. Regional mechanisms had a role to play in assisting the appropriate regional dimensions of the international financial architecture, she added.

She said that the ECE had been participating in the Working Table Two of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. Given the importance attributed to that initiative of the international community, Croatia believed that although the United Nations had been actively engaged in the process, its membership was still relatively unaware of the work done for the purposes of promoting long-term stability. It was now vital for the success of the process that the funding community fulfil its undertakings.

ALYAKSEI MAZHUKHOV (Belarus) stressed the importance of regional interdependence and, within that context, of the partnerships between the regional commissions and all regional and subregional actors in the implementation of major regional and interregional projects. The outcomes of consultative forums on financing for development, in particular, confirmed that a global partnership on those issues was required.

He hoped that the Council would look favourably on the resolutions adopted by the Economic Commission for Europe. Belarus agreed with the Commission that priority must continue to be given to requests for assistance from the most vulnerable transition countries, especially those of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Balkans. He believed the European Commission should adhere to its basic mandate by strengthening subregional cooperation and cooperation with the countries of other regions, bearing in mind the need for mutually beneficial cooperation, particularly for smaller countries.

MAKMUR WIDODO (Indonesia) saluted the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) for its active role in providing valuable input into the discussions on sustainable development, especially concerning the review of the sectoral issues on energy and sustainable development at the global level. Unsustainable production and management of energy could seriously threaten the environmental quality in the Asia and Pacific region.

The report of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Energy and Sustainable Development emphasized the need for an active exchange of information and elaboration at the regional level to provide substantive inputs on that issue to the ninth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development in 2001, he said. He endorsed the decision of ESCAP to hold a high-level regional meeting on energy for sustainable development to be hosted by his Country. That meeting would take place in Bali from 21-24 November 2000. He encouraged all members, associate members, the United Nations bodies and concerned agencies, regional institutes and relevant organizations, as well as civil society, including the private sector, to participate fully in the meeting.

YANG TAO (China) said the reports would help to foster an understanding of both the general situations in the various regions and the issues that were important. The Asia/Pacific region had gradually moved out of shadow of the financial crisis and was once more the fastest growing region in the world. The ESCAP had done a lot of work in promoting international trade and investment.

He said the complementary synthesis of economic development and globalization would greatly assist efforts to promote economic and social development. Faced with new situations and challenges, the ESCAP needed to undertake the necessary restructuring and reforms. It also had to continue to develop economic and social cooperation among countries of the region. He also hoped it would maintain its efforts to support the follow-up to the major United Nations Conferences of the last decade.

ALICE GUITTON (France) speaking on behalf of the European Union, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta and Turkey, said the regional commissions had achieved a degree of expertise recognized within the United Nations system. Their knowledge of economic and social developments in the regions was vitally important in helping the Council to ensure that any action taken was appropriate to address the issues and meet the challenges specific to each country within the same geographical area.

Through their activities, the regional commissions helped to integrate economies into international trade and create an environment which favoured growth, investment and sustainable development and they played a part in promoting peace and security, she said. Strengthening partnerships between organizations involved in the same region would enable more efficient mobilization of resources and sharing experience gained.

In the spirit of achieving a synergy of activities, efforts to bring about the economic integration of Africa must continue, she said. In addition to the various national programmes relating to cooperation with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), she favoured close cooperation between that organization and the Union, as that Commission was making an important contribution towards furthering regional economic cooperation.

She said the Union encouraged the continued efforts made by the secretariats of each of the regional commissions to streamline their resources. In order to ensure that projects had every chance of succeeding, and to avoid the temptation to disperse operations, she proposed continuation of efforts to target projects undertaken, define strategies for action and concentrate activities on a smaller number of areas.

VINCI CLODUMAR (Nauru) expressed his disappointment with the lack of coverage of the pacific region in the ESCAP report. It should not have ignored the impact of the financial crisis on the Pacific region and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). That region was projected to have growth of only 3 per cent in contrast to 6 per cent in the rest of the region.

A greater effort was needed if the goals of the Barbados Plan of Action were to be achieved, he said. Due to inherent vulnerabilities and the vast challenges confronting the Pacific Islands, regional cooperation was vital in the sustainable development efforts of SIDS. Many small States would face special difficulties in making the globalization transition and would need time to adjust to changes in the external trade regime.

An important approach in tackling limited capacity in SIDS was to develop regional approaches wherever feasible. The multilateral institutions and other donors should reinforce existing programmes by enhancing their lending and non- lending services to encourage and support such cooperation, he said.

SUH DAE-WON (Republic of Korea) said it was encouraging to note that the five regional commissions had shown a positive move towards streamlining their programmes and administrative structures. Reform of the United Nations system should not be recognized as a one-time event, however, but rather as an ongoing process requiring constant scrutiny. A clear vision and strong political determination was needed for it to succeed.

The ESCAP had adopted a series of constructive policies for reform, he said, citing the initiatives taken last year to downsize its sub-programmes, to reorganize the Secretariat’s structure and to foster regional coordination.

The ESCAP needed to take further measures to prioritize its work by concentrating on areas in which it had a comparative advantage by scaling down the non-programme costs of its regular budget to levels meeting the United Nations- wide goal. It should also continue to enhance coordination and cooperation with pertinent regional organizations, particularly the Asian Development Bank and prominent private sector actors, in order to respond to the social and economic development needs of the region.

ADAM SKRYBANT (Poland) said that while the fragments of the Berlin Wall could now be seen exclusively in museums, unfortunately here in New York, there were other barricades, such as the digital divide, to be found. Happily, there were many instruments and international organizations, which were offering to cooperate in order to overcome that barrier. One of the long-term tasks for the ECE could be to try and reduce the technological gaps and also help to find a balance for the impact of globalization on development in the least advanced parts of the region.

He said there was a formal problem with the ECE. The Commission had no mandate to tackle social questions. Nevertheless, it did so successfully and on an ad hoc basis with the consent of its member countries. Perhaps the time had come to consider more realistically the question of the mandate of the Commission in order to confront the social challenges all over the world.

VLADISLAV FEDORCHENKO (Russian Federation) said he believed that the commissions would serve as important instruments in integrating the countries of the region, and including them into the world economy. The situation of the commissions was unique in the sense that they were the central economic organs among other regional organizations.

He said the commissions were effective intergovernmental bodies. Improvement to the work of the ECE in providing assistance to countries in transition was important. His delegation believed that the issue of social problems should occupy a worthy place in the ECE mandate since those issues were linked to the stable economic growth of the many countries of the region. He also wanted to see Russian coastal areas in the far east more actively involved in ESCAP.

LINDA LUM (United States) said the regional commissions existed to produce tangible benefits for Member States. Her country’s reform agenda called for identifying the core competencies, comparative advantages and appropriate division of labour, eliminating duplications and terminating unnecessary bureaucratic functions.

She said the ECE had the least academic and most applied work programme. The ECE accomplishments on standard settings, statistics, trade facilitation and promoting energy efficiency had been valuable. Other commissions should try to follow that example.

Publications consumed a substantial amount of the regional commissions’ resources. The commissions should discontinue publications which were not in demand. The ESCAP had moved away from publications toward group training activities, new methods of information dissemination and promoting technical cooperation among developing countries carrying out operational activities..

On the merits of formal oversight mechanisms, she said that only ECLAC and ESCAP had formal channels through which Member States could recommend how to enhance the effectiveness and relevance. The other commissions should give serious thought to establishing such a mechanism.

ANDRES FRANCO (Colombia) said the work of ECLAC in hemisphere-wide integration was appreciated. The ECLAC’s work on the matter of natural disasters should be highlighted. He also underlined ECLAC’s job on financing for development.

He emphasized the work to be done by ECLAC on the digital divide. He felt that for the South American and Caribbean regions, the work of ECLAC in that regard would be significant. He was pleased with ECLAC’s work and valued its independence, in particular in discussing issues closely intertwined with issues of development.

OVIDIU IERULESCU (Romania) said the dual position of the regional commissions as outposts of the United Nations and as the Organization’s regional expression offered a real opportunity for the improvement of the links between the activities of the commissions and the activities of other regional and subregional bodies. He commended the professional expertise and technical assistance carried out by the ECE, especially for supporting the countries with economies-in- transition.

He said his Country participated in different subregional projects and activities, such as the South-Eastern Europe Cooperation Initiative, the Black Sea Economic Cooperation and others, and was fully involved in the activities of the Stability Pact of the region. Security, prosperity and sustainable development in the whole southeast European region relied mainly on enhanced cooperation and permanent dialogue.

Developing “good social governance” and an active participation of the United Nations system at the regional level for the purpose of economic and social development represented the main challenges for the United Nations in the field of regional cooperation. Reinforcing the subregional and regional integration in the ECE area through cooperative undertakings among United Nations agencies and bodies would built a lasting peace and sustainable development in the various parts of that region.

YOSHITAKA KITAZAWA (Japan) said 15 plans of action had recently been adopted by ESCAP. They were important to the enhancement of the work of the Commission and would make its activities more transparent. He hoped the Secretariat and Member States would cooperate to ensure the full implementation of those plans.

JOSEPH MUTABOBA (Rwanda) said the dialogue on regional cooperation would lead to progress in inter-regional cooperation, build spiritual bonds and create global opportunities. Ultimately, the result sought was to make it easier for individual countries to become integrated into the global economy. Partners in both the public and private sector would also know who to turn to for assistance and how to address the needs of populations in dire need of support.

Action

The Council, acting without a vote, then adopted five draft resolutions contained in Chapter 1 of document E/2000/10 Add.3.

It first adopted draft resolution I on ESCAP, entitled, Amendments to the terms of reference of the Commission; inclusion of Georgia in the geographical scope of the Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and its admission as member of that body.

The Council then adopted draft resolution II on ESCAP, entitled, Decade of Greater Mekong Subregion Development Cooperation, 2000-2009. It also adopted

draft resolution III, entitled, Regional cooperation on space applications for sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific.

Turning to recommendations from the ECLAC, the Council then adopted draft resolution I, entitled, Establishment of the Statistical Conference of the Americas of the ECLAC. It then adopted draft resolution II, entitled, Place and date of the twenty-ninth session of the ECLAC.

Following the adoption of the drafts, the Council also took note of the documents in connection with the item on regional cooperation (documents E/2000/10 and Add.1-3 and E/2000/11 to 15).

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