ESCAP'S 57TH Commissions Session opens with fresh agenda

New solutions urgent to combat economic difficulties, says Thai Prime Minister

BANGKOK (United Nations Information Services, UNIS) --- The issue facing us today is how to cope with a new set of economic realities, new requirements, and how best to overcome them in regenerating growth, creating wealth, sustaining equitable distribution and opportunities, Prime Minister of Thailand H.E. Thaksin Shinawatra said today when he opened ESCAP's 57th Commission Session.

Addressing the Bangkok-based United Nations ESCAP for the first time, Mr Thaksin urged Ministers attending the three-day Ministerial session (23 – 25 April) to find new solutions to the "prevailing economic difficulties given very limited resources."

In a speech full of economic references, Prime Minister Thaksin said that the recent demands by G7 economies for banking reforms in Asia had "created massive clean-up costs and major roadblocks which ultimately have become a true moral hazards." He also suggested that developing countries look "inward to new products and SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). The modalities of new production must not be a clone to a western product or involve mass production at ever lower production cost."

Ministers are attending the Commission Session, which has as its theme "Balanced development of rural and urban areas and regions within the countries of Asia and the Pacific."

Minister from Maldives, H.E. Ismail Shafeeu, Minister of Home Affairs, Housing and Environment was unanimously elected chairman of the Session.

United Nations Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, said that ESCAP had an important catalytic role to play in ensuring implementation of the UN Millennium Summit "commitments in making developing country voices heard loud and clear and helping to seize the many opportunities of globalization and make it a positive force for all the world's people."

World leaders attending the Summit pledged to halve the proportion of the world's people living in conditions of extreme poverty by 2015, he said.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his special message to the Bangkok conference referred to next month's Brussels United Nations conference on the 48 least developed countries, 13 of which are in the Asia Pacific region. He said the Conference was an opportunity to discuss market access "since probably no greater change would make a greater contribution to the battle in reducing the world of abject and dehumanizing poverty."

Newly appointed ESCAP Executive Secretary and Under-Secretary-General, Mr Kim Hak-Su, speaking at his first Commission Session told Ministers that he was determined to help ESCAP build on the growing impulse for regional cooperation in the economic and social fields.

Taking his cue from the Millennium Summit pledges, Mr Kim expressed his vision for ESCAP up to year 2005. He will outline concrete plans with Ministers in the next few days to gather support for a revitalization of 61-member country body.

Mr Kim’s plans comprise of transfer of proven best practices of poverty eradication, reversal of weakening positions of developing member states arising from and along with the process of globalization, strengthening their negotiating position, and detection and tackling of emerging social issues, including HIV/AIDS as well as bridging the digital divide.

"Can ESCAP make a difference? We need to hone in on those areas in which we can claim to have the comparative and competitive advantage, specially in the light of resources constraints," said Mr Kim.
 

                                                                    --- UNIS ---
 

NOTE TO EDITORS:

You or your representatives are cordially invited to attend end-of-session press conference on Wednesday, 25th April 2001 at around 5:00 pm immediately after the adoption of the session’s report.  The Press Conference will be co-chaired by the Executive Secretary of ESCAP Mr. Kim Hak-Su and the Chairman of the 57th Commission Session, Hon. Ismail Shafeeu, Maldives’ Minister of House Affairs, Housing and Environment.  The press conference will be held in the Theatre, Ground Floor of UNCC.