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Photo credit: ESCAP Photo/Cindy Liu Story

For Ou Sokphanna, who lost her leg to a landmine explosion when she was young, opportunities for income generation have always been limited, with widespread discrimination preventing her from…

Photo credit: ESCAP Photo/Lauren DeCicca Story

33-year-old Rina Akhtar, hailing from Dhaka, Bangladesh, found herself grappling with adversity when her husband deserted her, leaving her to raise their two daughters alone.

Undeterred by the…

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The potential of e-commerce to drive inclusive development has been debated for decades. As far back as 2002, then-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan, in the publication titled E-Commerce…

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To meet the ambitions of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we will need a vibrant and innovative private sector able to seize opportunities to solving the problems that hamper progress and…

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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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At ESCAP’s latest Regional Conversation, Promoting Regional Cooperation for Enhancing Access to Essential Health Products, Dr. Mariângela Simão of the World Health Organization (WHO) gave a telling…

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The world has seen tremendous development and production in vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics in the two years since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. However, gross inequities in accessing…

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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…

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The world’s topmost decision-making body on trade will meet in Geneva on 30 November, having only four days at the World Trade Organization 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) to deliver a…

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The Asia-Pacific region is home to some of the most advanced and fast-moving digital economies in the world. In countries such as China, the Republic of Korea and Singapore, the COVID-19 pandemic has…

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We are living through a decisive moment. The COVID-19 pandemic’s devasting impact is reaching every corner of the world. As we look back at this period, we will see history divided into a pre-COVID…

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Participation in global and regional supply chains has been one of the most reliable economic growth strategies, especially for developing countries in Asia and the Pacific. Smooth and efficient…

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Technology often has inherent limitations

All sorts of frontier technologies have been widely used to fight against COVID-19. A good lesson learned by using various technologies during the…

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How will graduation impact countries in South Asia and the trade support they benefit from? How can they prepare?

Least developed countries (LDCs) are classified as such by the United Nations (UN)…

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Many estimates are being thrown around about the potential impact of COVID-19 on global and national economies. Perhaps the only thing they agree on at this stage is that it will be bad – the main…

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A common saying has it that when America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. However, with China’s economic rise, this phrase is yet to gain another spin.

In the face of a new virus …

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Imagine going through the day without consuming or using some product, service, data, technology, personal contact, or payment which has not – at least in some part – crossed one or more national…