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PRESS RELEASE
JAPAN'S CONTRIBUTION TO ESCAP

April 2001
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, JAPAN

1. JAPAN'S CONTRIBUTION TO ESCAP IN THE YEARS 2001 AND 2002

Recently, it has been pointed out that economic globalization is stimulating economies and encouraging economic growth in Asia and the Pacific, but that this growth is magnifying disparities between the rich and the poor, as well as creating environmental degradation. Rapid population growth in the region is exacerbating the situation. Accordingly, JAPAN currently supports and is putting into practice the concept of human security, designed to strengthen efforts to cope with threats to human life, livelihood and dignity, including poverty and environmental problems, in order to assure the freedom of individual human beings and to realize their abundant potentials.

Last year, JAPAN disbursed about US$5.3 million to the JAPAN-ESCAP Cooperation Fund (JECF), the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP), the Regional Co-ordination Center for Research and Development of Coarse Grains, Pulses, Roots and Tuber Crops in the Humid Tropics of Asia and the Pacific (CGPRT Center), and the Asian and Pacific Development Center (APDC), recognizing ESCAP's leading role in the area of human security. This was the largest contribution from bilateral donors, accounting for 55.3% of the extra budgetary inputs from bilateral donors and 35.9% of the extra budgetary resources of ESCAP in 2000.

In the current session, JAPAN pledged its contribution to ESCAP for 2001 as follows:

In addition, JAPAN will continue to provide expert services to ESCAP through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), on a non-reimbursable loan basis (NRL) in the areas of environmental policy, energy efficiency, Asian Highway development, women in development, trade and industry, and geological survey, and an NRL expert in the area of marine transport will be dispatched in 2001.

2. JAPAN AND ESCAP

JAPAN was approved as an associate member of the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE), the predecessor to ESCAP, in 1952, and became a formal member in 1954. Membership of ESCAP, which had been achieved before joining the United Nations in 1956, means that JAPAN has been accepted by international society, while it was devastated by the war.

JAPAN has hosted the Commission's sessions five times so far. The highlight was the 40th session, 17th to 20th of April, 1984, which coincided with the 30th anniversary of JAPAN's membership of ESCAP. This fruitful session, held in Tokyo, clearly showed JAPAN's potential for contributing to the future of Asia and the Pacific in a concrete manner. The session, attended by then Foreign Minister Abe, adopted several resolutions which became known as the Tokyo Projects".

The Commission's 46th session, in 1990, established an eminent persons' group to consider structural reform of ESCAP in the face of both changing global political and economic system and Asia's economic development. The group was chaired by Dr. Saburo OKITA, a former Foreign Minister and, by all accounts, the first Japanese to serve on the ESCAP secretariat. Dr. Okita and the other members of the group, mindful that ESCAP had expertise in geographical areas similar to other UN area-oriented organizations, proposed at the next session to establish not area-oriented but thematic committees to allow ESCAP to handle regional problems in a more comprehensive way. These thematic committees commenced in 1994 and continue to function today.

The Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP) was established in JAPAN in 1970, following a decision of the 22nd session of ECAFE, and it became a subsidiary of ESCAP in April 1995. So far, more than 7,000 trainees from the region have been invited to its training courses, and JAPAN has assisted its activities with contributions both in cash and in kind. Recently, SIAP moved to a new building in suburban Tokyo, equipped with the latest computer technology and other training facilities.

JAPAN remembers receiving valuable assistance from ECAFE. Developing countries have high expectations of ESCAP's role in the economic and social development of the region, and JAPAN, as the biggest economy and donor in the region, will continue to energize ESCAP's functions.

PROJECTS IN THE YEAR 2001 SUPPORTED BY JAPAN (Provisional)

1. JAPAN- ESCAP Cooperation Fund

1. Trade and Investment Promotion in Pacific Island Countries through Effective Use of Information Technology (Phase I)
2. Kitakyushu Initiative for a Clean Environment - Network Development and Pilot Implementation
3. Regional Cooperation in Promotion of Energy- and Resource- Efficiency in Energy-intensive Enterprises
4. Training Workshop on enhancing participation of trade officials from ESCAP developing countries in the WTO accession process
5. Strengthening women's participation in urban local governments (Phase II)
6. Regional support of action towards the fulfilment of targets for the implementation of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons
7. Capacity building for ICT applications to bridge the gender digital divide
8. Shipping policy development - Liberalization of maritime transport related services under WTO GATS (maritime services)
9. Promotion, Development and Formalization of Asian Highway (Phase IV)- Overall review of Asian Highway development and a proposed AH network covering the whole of Asia
10. CGPRT Center/ Prospects of Feed Crops in South Asia (FEED)
11. Integration of youth health concerns into non-formal education: Focus on sexual and reproductive health and prevention of substance abuse and HIV/AIDS in Asia (Phase I)
12. Assistance to CCOP Administrative Programme from the Japan-ESCAP Co-operation Fund for 2001
13. Institutional support to the CGPRT Center
14. Cash Contribution to the Typhoon Committee
15. Elimination of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of youth through HRD(Phase IV)
16. Strengthening regional cooperation in tourism promotion and human resources development
17. Ministerial Conference on Infrastructure - 2001

2. Core Fund for North- East Asian Environmental Cooperation

3. Regional Co-ordination Center for Research and Development of Coarse Grains, Pulses, Roots and Tuber Crops in the Humid Tropics of Asia and the Pacific (CGPRT Center)

1. Stabilization of upland agriculture and rural development in El Nino vulnerable countries

4. Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP)

Major training courses conducted in Japan

1. Group Training Course in Modules on Core Official Statistics
2. Group Training Course in Statistical Computing for Trainers
3. Group Training Course in Data Analysis and Interpretation

5. Institutional Support to the Asian and Pacific Development Center

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