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Asia - Institutions
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC ESCAP.
The regional arm of the United Nations Secretariat for the Asian and Pacific
region is the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the
Pacific (UNESCAP). It is located in the United Nations Building,
Ratchadamnoen Nok Avenue, Bangkok, Thailand.
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
is the regional development arm of the United Nations for the Asia-Pacific
region. With a membership of 62 Governments, 58 of which are in the region, and
a geographical scope that stretches from Turkey in the west to the Pacific
island nation of Kiribati in the east, and from the Russian Federation (Russia) in the
north to New Zealand in the south, ESCAP is the most comprehensive of the United
Nations five regional commissions. It is also the largest United Nations body
serving the Asia-Pacific region with over 600 staff.
Established in 1947 with its headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, ESCAP seeks
to overcome some of the region’s greatest challenges. It carries out work in
three main thematic areas:
- Poverty reduction;
- Managing globalization;
- Tackling emerging social issues.
ESCAP focuses on issues that are most effectively addressed through regional
cooperation, including:
- Issues that all or a group of countries in the region face, for which it
is necessary to learn from each other;
- Issues that benefit from regional or multi-country involvement;
- Issues that are transboundary in nature, or that would benefit from
collaborative inter-country approaches;
- Issues that are of a sensitive or emerging nature and require further
advocacy and negotiation.
ESCAP secretariat comprises the Office of the Executive Secretary and eight
divisions. The main legislative organ of ESCAP is the Commission, which meets
annually at the ministerial level and reports to the UN's Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC). It provides a forum for all Governments of the region to
review and discuss economic and social issues and to strengthen regional
cooperation.
Regional Institutions:
- APCAEM: Asian and Pacific Centre for Agricultural Engineering and Machinery
- APCTT: Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology
- CAPSA: Centre for Alleviation of Poverty through Secondary Crops’
Development in Asia and the Pacific
- SIAP: United Nations Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific
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