V. EMERGING FOCUS AREAS OF ESCAP
The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific,
at it fifty-seventh session held in April 2001, emphasized
that the three major development priorities of ESCAP were
poverty alleviation; addressing the negative impacts of
globalization; and emerging social issues.
With the shift in development paradigms, it is critically
important to develop projects and activities under Minimum
Common Programme in the light of the current policy strategies
of financial and institutional donors and partners. It is
equally important to protect the interests of developing
countries from the negative effects of globalization by
capacity-building. With such long-term goals, policy strategies
will also be likely to determine the amount and level of
support mechanisms for the programme. As world population
continues to rise, concerns for alleviating the poor conditions
of the greater masses of the people generate greater interest
from development funding institutions and agencies.
Yet another concern is the widening digital divide within
and across the member countries, which makes it quite difficult
not only for the benefits of space technology to reach people
equitably, but also for several other benefits of information
technology (IT) to touch directly the grass-root levels
and all levels of decision makers. Fast-changing technological
options and innovations in space technology underscore the
need for countries in the region to absorb and harness the
full potential of the technology, while taking cognizance
of socio-cultural settings and the technological trends
and absorption capacity of those countries.
The common denominator projects have been focused to address
such needs. The mapping of the objectives of the Minimum
Common Programme onto these overarching ESCAP priorities
is illustrated in table 2.
Table 2. Mapping of RESAP Minimum Common Programme goals
onto the goals of ESCAP
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