PRESS CONFERENCE BY EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF ESCAP

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF ESCAP

Kim Hak-Su, recently-appointed Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this morning that during his tenure he would concentrate on transmitting and transferring proven best practices in poverty alleviation in the region to other developing countries.

Mr. Kim, a national of the Republic of Korea, pointed to the success of the “new village movement”, an initiative which had contributed to the alleviation of poverty in his country during the 1970s and 1980s. Could that programme be replicated in other countries? he asked. The ESCAP must try to experiment in new environments, such as landlocked Viet Nam, Nepal and Central Asia. His programme managers would determine the efficiency of the practice after a one-year trial period and, if it did not work, further analysis would be required.

A second objective of ESCAP must be to help developing countries deal with globalization, particularly in improving: their relationships with the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); their trade negotiation skills and tactics; and their environmental negotiations, with regard to the numerous protocols and conventions.

Developing nations had to contend with both the digital and biotech divides, to mention two major issues, he said. The ESCAP had developed electronic-related programmes, specifically “e-poverty alleviation”, “e- wireless” and “e-smart village”, so that rural people could benefit from the Internet technology revolution.

The importance of detecting and tackling emerging social issues in the Asia Pacific region was a third area of concentration that he wanted to stress. Population aging, sexually abused and sexually exploited children and youth, and labour migration were other matters of concern for ESCAP.

In addition to stressing the need to address those issues, he called on ESCAP to become more efficient and productive. Given adequate resources, manpower and budget, the Commission should do better. He said the United Nations Office for Project Service (UNOPS) was invited to evaluate ESCAP's strengths and weaknesses.

There were many agencies, including the Asian Development Bank, which were doing work similar to ESCAP and efforts must be made to better cooperate and avoid duplication, he said. The establishment of a "Bangkok consensus" with the heads of the 16 agencies based in the ESCAP building there would be a positive step.

During his three months as Executive Secretary, he had attended high-level meetings in Jakarta on financing for development and in Kitakyushu, Japan, on

Hak-Su Press Conference - 2 - 16 October 2000

environmental issues. The meeting in Kitakyushu had been especially symbolic as the city had endured the effect of 80 tons of industrial pollution, but was now the cleanest city in Japan. Today 13 of the world's 15 dirtiest cities were on the Asian continent and ESCAP was playing a leading role in making clean cities a priority. The member countries of ESCAP had adopted measures to improve the urban environment, as well as taking action on transboundary air pollution, coastal pollution, biodiversity and climate change.

He noted ESCAP's work in the area of transport, particularly in the design of Asian railways and highways. At present, the Commission was involved in linking the trans-Siberian railway, the trans-China railway and the Asian highway. The ESCAP's expertise and experience in that area could not be matched. Statistics was another field in which ESCAP had done "pioneering work". Also, ESCAP's disability programme had achieved international recognition.

A correspondent wanted to know whether Mr. Kim had a plan to assist the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in its new relationship with the United States and the Republic of Korea.

Mr. Kim noted that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was a member of ESCAP, which entitled it to help from the Asian Development Bank. If normalization occurred, soft loans from the Bank would automatically accrue to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The ESCAP could also help in microeconomic and statistical processes. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea would also benefit from ESCAP's transport efforts.

In closing, Mr. Kim said ESCAP had assumed a leading role in: financing for development, supporting the mobilization of domestic resources, as in the case of the Bangladesh micro-loan scheme; foreign direct investment, as had occurred in China's economic boom; and traditional official development assistance, which had been declining.

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