UNESCAP TO ISSUE ECONOMIC FORECAST FOR 2004

UNESCAP TO ISSUE ECONOMIC FORECAST FOR 2004

(Reissued as received.)

BANGKOK, 15 December (United Nations Information Services) -- At the end of a turbulent year, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) will release its latest assessment of the region's economy.

The annual Bulletin on Asia-Pacific Perspectives 2003/2004 will be released to the media by UNESCAP Executive Secretary Mr. Kim Hak-Su on Friday, 19 December 2003 at the United Nation Conference Centre.  The Bulletin is the result of analysis by some of the top economic minds in the region.

With the theme Asia-Pacific Economies:  Maintaining Dynamism, the Bulletin examines the effects on the region’s outbreak of the SARS epidemic, trade expansion in the region and implications for SMEs financing.

Issues in global and regional interdependence and in the promotion of sustainable development are the focus of the other articles in the Bulletin.  These articles provide a perspective on some of the major policy challenges facing countries in managing stable and equitable economic growth and social development against the backdrop of the Millennium Development Goals as set by world leaders in 2000, as well as unexpected, adverse external shocks.

The Bulletin also gives a glimpse of the 2004 economic and social outlook of the Asian and Pacific region.

UNESCAP experts and a group of “Eminent Persons” from countries across the region have contributed to this publication.

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