Introduction to UN ESCAP Subregional Office for East and North-East Asia (SRO-ENEA)

Transcription

1 Introduction to UN ESCAP Subregional Office for East and North-East Asia (SRO-ENEA) 1

2 UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

3 UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Regional development arm of the United Nations for the Asia-Pacific region 53 member States and 9 Associate members Largest of the UN Regional Commissions Established in 1947 with its headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand

4 Areas of Expertise and Role of UN ESCAP Macroeconomic Policy and Development Trade and Investment Transport Environment and development ICT and Disaster Risk Reduction Social Development Statistics Subregional activities for development

5 Process towards SRO-ENEA and other SROs Two other new ESCAP SROs for North and Central Asia in Almaty and South and South-West Asia in New Delhi to become operational in 2011

6 Role of SRO-ENEA

7 RELATIONSHIPS WITH UN ENTITIES ESCAP ESCAP Headquarters APCICT Regional Institutions APCAEM SIAP Incheon SRO UNCT New Delhi and Almaty SROs

8 RELATIONSHIPS WITH KEY PARTNERS AND OTHER ENTITIES Member Governments National institutions Incheon SRO Subregional initiatives and organizations (e.g. GTI) Civil society/ private sector

9 SRO staff and areas of specialization 14 SRO-ENEA staff members cover all fields of economics, environment, social affairs and programme SRO-ENEA staff plays a central role in designing, developing, planning, implementing and monitoring programme activities SRO-ENEA has easy access to internal ESCAP expertise in all fields of socio-economic development Collaboration with national governments, academic and research institutions, CSOs, etc

10 North-East Asian Subregional Programme for Environmental Cooperation (NEASPEC) - SRO-ENEA serves as secretariat of this most comprehensive environmental cooperation mechanism in the subregion, established in 1993

11 Activities since inauguration Past events and meetings Intergovernmental Consultation Meeting of SRO-ENEA (Nov 2010, Incheon) provided guidance from member States on programme of work for UN community gathering with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (Nov 2010, Seoul) during his official visit in conjunction with G-20 Summit Launch of the Asia-Pacific Economic and Social Survey in ROK (May 2011, Seoul) outlined the most significant challenges to sustained growth in ROK and the subregion

12 Social issues Activities since inauguration Training workshop on statistics in support of MDGs (Oct 2010, Daejon) paved the way to a new subregional project on strengthening of the collection and analysis of MDG related statistics Subregional Youth Forum as a side event of GMUN (Aug, Incheon) will highlight the most pressing subregional issues related to youth such as unemployment, role of youth in society and HIV/AIDS Subregional meeting on implementation of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (Sep, Incheon) will underscore the importance of tackling the problems of ageing in this most rapidly aging subregion in the world

13 Activities since inauguration Economic issues Asia Economic Community Forum (Nov 2010, Incheon) where SRO held an official side event Astana Economic Forum (May 2011, Kazakhstan) where SRO participated in the global launch of the Asia-Pacific Economic and Social Survey High-level Policy Dialogue on Landlocked Developing Countries (Apr 2011, Mongolia) where SRO led the discussions on South-South and triangular cooperation and mobilization of financial resources for LLDCs

14 Environmental issues/neaspec Activities since inauguration Workshop on nature conservation in transboundary areas (Nov 2010, China) launched the project on nature conservation in lower Tumen River Basin. The project also targets other cross-border areas with the aim of strengthening cooperation between Russia, China and Mongolia Expert Consultation Meeting on NEASPEC activities on Transboundary Air Pollution (Jan 2011, Incheon) allowed subregional experts to discuss the new project proposal submitted by Russia on establishment of the subregional system for assessing effects of transboundary air pollution Inception Meeting of NEASPEC project on control and mitigation of Dust and Sandstorms in North-East Asia (Apr 2011, Mongolia and China) was an important step in strengthening cooperation between Mongolia and China with a view of mitigating dust and sandstroms affecting the subregion

15 Some planned upcoming events in th Commission Session (May, Bangkok) Consultation meeting on Knowledge Platform of SRO-ENEA (Nov, Incheon) Social issues Subregional statistical workshops on MDGs (June-Aug, China and Incheon) Global Model UN in Incheon and Subregional Youth Forum as side event 3 presentations on UN and SRO work as well as on Sustainable Development to be delivered by SRO as a part of the GMUN proceedings Economic issues Stakeholders meeting on trade facilitation in Mongolia border regions (Jun, Mongolia) Asia-Pacific Trade Facilitation Forum (Oct, Seoul) and a back-to-back high level stakeholder workshop on trade facilitation in Incheon Environmental issues/neaspec Workshop on Transboundary Air Pollution from Coal-Fired Power plants (Jun, China) SINGG and Low Carbon Green Growth meetings (July, Busan) Subregional Rio+20 preparatory meeting and 16 th Senior Officials Meeing (Sep, Incheon) Side-event at UN Convention to Combat Desertification (Oct, Changwon) Asia-Pacific Regional Preparatory meeting for Rio+20 (Oct, Seoul)

16 Potential areas for expansion of programs SRO-ENEA can -Play pivotal role in facilitation of exchange of best practices and policy guiding on South-South and triangular cooperation activities of the subregion with other regions/subregions -Explore possibilities of specific programmes/projects targeting DPRK and its needs -Promote collaboration among existing intergovernmental mechanisms covering (fully or partially the subregion) GTI, SCO

17 Potential areas for expansion of programs NEASPEC -Opportunity to facilitate strengthening of the China- Japan-Korea Joint Research Project on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollutants in Northeast Asia (LTP) -Facilitate promotion of green economy/green growth initiatives in the countries of the subregion -Facilitate exchange of best practices on Ecoefficiency among member States