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Photo credit: UN Photo/JC McIlwaine Blog

Infrastructure is a critical component that connects all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, investment in infrastructure was well below the levels…

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As digital technology continues to unlock new financial opportunities for people across Asia and the Pacific, it is critical that women are central to strategies aimed at harnessing the digital…

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Five years after the entry into force of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), many countries have made progress in implementing the agreement, much technical assistance has been provided, and…

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In the EU alone, there are 2.8 million social economy organizations, employing 13.6 million people, representing up to 9.9 per cent employment in some countries.
The social economy supports…

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The COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent disruptions have pushed up shipping and air freight costs, and posed significant challenges for supply chains globally. Still, significant progress has been…

Photo credit: ESCAP/Soni Chetan Blog

The outcomes of harnessing digital technologies for financial inclusion will pay dividends for people at the bottom of the economic pyramid (BoEP) across the Asia-Pacific region. Innovative policy…

Photo credit: Alexey Kravchenko Blog

In July 2021, the European Commission (EC) announced a proposal to implement a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on energy-intensive imports from third countries. The proposed CBAM would…

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COVID-19 has disrupted FDI considerably, and while global FDI flows collapsed in 2020 and fell by 42 per cent (UNCTAD, 2021), a recent ESCAP report finds that flows to developing countries in Asia…

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Fewer preferential trade agreements (PTAs) have been signed since 2020. A new report by ESCAP finds that the number of new agreements signed annually decreased from 13 and 11 agreements in 2019 and…

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Trade in commercial services in the Asia-Pacific region is recovering, but the recovery remains both partial and fragile. Services exports from the region remain about 20 per cent below pre-pandemic…