ESCAP and UNFPA are to pursue their long-standing collaboration. A new project entitled Population, Development and Poverty: Emerging Challenges has recently been approved by UNFPA.
The project builds on the pivotal role that ESCAP, in close cooperation with UNFPA, has played in the region in enhancing the awareness of population issues and advocating for population policies and programmes.

During the last cycle of assistance (2000-2003), the UNFPA-supported programme implemented by ESCAP focused on improving dissemination of information by using emerging technologies and advancing the implementation of the Programme of Action adopted in 1994 by the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) through consensus-building activities among countries.

ESCAP is committed to strengthening the resolve and capacity of member countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the goals of the ICPD Programme of Action and to implement the Plan of Action on Population and Poverty adopted at the Fifth Asian and Pacific Population Conference.

The new regional population programme responds to the emerging needs of the countries in the fast changing Asian and Pacific region. It includes intercountry activities that will improve the understanding of the emerging population issues as they impact on development and enhance both institutional and human resources capacities of member governments and civil society organizations.

The programme includes effective advocacy activities that will lead to the development or reorientation of population policies. In 2004, the programme will place a special emphasis on health and mortality and will convene a regional seminar on this topic. A training workshop on population and planning will also be organized in Central Asia. The programme will also pursue its information management and dissemination activities, including the publication of the Asia-Pacific Population Journal, the present Population Headliners and the annual ESCAP Population Data Sheet. In the next few years, it is expected to focus on issues such as fertility, ageing, international migration and gender.