The 73rd session of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) was held from 15-19 May 2017 in Bangkok. The ministerial segment of the Event was held on 17-19 May where ECO Secretariat was represented by Mr. Seyed Jalaledin Alavi Sabzevari, ECO Deputy Secretary General. The main theme of this year session was “Regional Cooperation for Sustainable Energy”. A number of Heads of State/Government and Ministers, as well as high level officials, from the ESCAP member states and senior representatives from the international and regional organizations were present in the ministerial segment’s plenary and ministerial dialogues/panels. The 73rd ESCAP annual session also took up a list of agenda items and concluded its work through adoption of series of resolutions.
The 73rd session of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) was held from 15-19 May 2017 in Bangkok. The ministerial segment of the Event was held on 17-19 May where ECO Secretariat was represented by Mr. Seyed Jalaledin Alavi Sabzevari, ECO Deputy Secretary General. The main theme of this year session was “Regional Cooperation for Sustainable Energy”.
A number of Heads of State/Government and Ministers, as well as high level officials, from the ESCAP member states and senior representatives from the international and regional organizations were present in the ministerial segment’s plenary and ministerial dialogues/panels. The 73rd ESCAP annual session also took up a list of agenda items and concluded its work through adoption of series of resolutions.
At the invitation by ESCAP, ECO Deputy Secretary General participated as panelist on a high level dialogue on “Regional Economic Cooperation and Integration in support of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. The Panel was moderated by Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, Under Secretary General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of ESCAP. President of Marshall Islands, Minister of Fisheries of Fiji, Deputy Minister of National Development Planning of Indonesia, Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission of Nepal, State Minister for Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology of Bangladesh, Undersecretary of National Economic and Development Authority of the Philippines, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN, Vice-President of Asian Development Bank, Deputy Secretary-General of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and former United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator also attended as the Dialogue which was organized in two parts.
In his remarks in the second part of the high level Dialogue, the ECO Deputy Secretary General presented an introduction into the newly adopted ECO Vision 2025 and the prospects for its implementation. He also shared his views on possible direct and indirect impacts on SDGs of the Vision implementation. Emphasizing on the importance given by ECO to its partnership with ESCAP and while expressing satisfaction, Deputy Secretary General emphasized also on the need for more visibility for ECO in the ESCAP documents and researches as ECO Region indeed constitutes an important sub-region in Asia and the Pacific.
On the sidelines of the ESCAP Session, Deputy Secretary General had bilateral talks with ESCAP (on energy and disaster issues), ASEAN (on disaster issues) and UNDP where areas of cooperation were reviewed for ensuing follow-up.
