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The 61st Session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
(Overview and Evaluation)

May 25, 2005

1. Summary

(1) The 61st session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) took place in Bangkok, Thailand, from May 12 to 18. The senior officials' segment was held from May 12 to 14 and the ministerial segment from May 16 to 18. H.E. Mr. Itsunori Onodera, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, attended the ministerial segment as the head of the delegation of Japan.
(2) The Session was attended by approximately 500 representatives from 59 member states and associate members from both in and outside the region, as well as 64 organizations including United Nations (UN)-affiliated organizations, specialized agencies, other international organizations and non governmental organizations (NGO).
(3) Senior officials' Segment
The attendees were divided into three subgroups and discussed poverty reduction; managing globalization; addressing emerging social issues; least-developed, landlocked and small island developing countries states; mid-term review on the restructuring of the revised conference structure; programme planning and evaluation; review of the work of the regional institutions; report on technical cooperation activities and announcement of commitment on contributions; and more.
(4) Ministerial Segment
(a) The representative of each country delivered a statement on the main themes of the Session: "Implication of recent economic and social developments," "Implementing the Monterrey Consensus in the Asian and Pacific region" and "Emerging issues in response to tsunami and other natural disasters." Parliamentary Secretary Onodera (head of the delegation of Japan) delivered a country statement on Japan's policy towards ESCAP, including responses to the abovementioned themes, highlighting those contributions made by Japan.
(b) At the High-level Panel on Tsunami Recovery Development, panelists from tsunami-affected countries gave presentations on their reconstruction plans, financial resources and progress on establishment of an early warning system. During the open discussions, Japan explained its assistance measures for earthquake and tsunami disasters including its intention to provide at least 2.5 billion dollars in assistance in the next five years, mainly to the Asian and African regions, for disaster prevention and mitigation and reconstruction measures.
(c) At the Ministerial Roundtable on Financing for Development (implementation of the Monterrey Consensus), each of the four panelists delivered presentations titled: "Implementing Monterrey Consensus in the Asian and Pacific region: achieving coherence and consistency," "Development, investment requirements and resource mobilization issues of the region," "Domestic resource mobilization: role of private sector" and "An Asian Investment Fund: What it will do and why needed?" In response to this, vigorous debate took place on various aspects of development funds. An idea of establishing a new international financial institution in order to meet the shortfall of development funds in the region was presented at the discussion table. However, some countries including Japan took a cautious stance to this proposal, considering that establishment of such an institution would be problematic from the perspective of efficiency in view of relationship with those activities of the existing international financial institutions.

(5) Adoption of resolutions
A total of 12 resolutions were adopted at the Session. Japan submitted four draft resolutions, all of which were unanimously adopted. They were: "Mid-term Review concerning the Functioning of the Conference Structure of the Commission," "Statute for the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific," "Mid-Point Review of the Implementation of the Biwako Millennium Framework for Action towards an Inclusive, Barrier-free and Rights-based Society for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific" and "Regional Cooperation for the Protection of Vulnerable People through the Promotion of Economic and Social Aspects of Human Security as a Follow-up to the Shanghai Declaration."

2. Evaluation

(1) Japan is the largest contributor to ESCAP. As such, it was significant that Parliamentary Secretary Onodera attended the Commission to deliver the country statement demonstrating Japan's presence in ESCAP.
(2) At the High-level Panel on Tsunami Recovery Development, Japan reintroduced its active involvement in tsunami reconstruction assistance highlighting its contributions to the UN and the international community.
(3) The resolutions submitted by Japan adopted at the Session and entitled "Regional Cooperation for the Protection of Vulnerable People through the Promotion of Economic and Social Aspects of Human Security as a Follow-up to the Shanghai Declaration" is the first resolution adopted by a UN-affiliated organization with the term "human security" in its title. It is expected that this adoption will boost the promotion of the concept of "human security," which is one of the diplomatic pillars of Japan.
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