بيانات صحفية

10 أيار/مايو 2010

Beirut

ESCWA 26th Ministerial Session to Convene
Under Lebanese House Speaker’s Auspices

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Under the auspices of Lebanon’s House Speaker Nabih Berri and in his personal presence, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) is holding its 26th Ministerial Session at the UN House, Beirut, from 17 to 20 May 2010. The Ministerial Session is the main governing body of the Regional Commission and it takes the major decisions on its policies Deliberations of the Session will start with a high-level meeting to be held at 10:00 AM on Monday 17 May 2010 at the UN House. The meeting will open with speeches by . It will discuss the report of the Executive Secretary on the activities of the Commission, including the 2008-2009 program performance and the follow-up to the implementation of resolutions adopted by its 25th Ministerial Session held in Sana’a, Yemen, in May 2008. The meeting will also discuss the technical cooperation programme and regional advisory services, reports of the Commission’s subsidiary bodies and management issues. Discussions will also cover the evaluation of the intergovernmental structure of the Commission and its subsidiary bodies, the draft strategic framework for the biennium 2012-2013, as well as other internal matters. In addition to the statement of House Speaker Berri, the opening of the Ministerial Session scheduled for 10:00 am, Wednesday 19 May 2010, will feature statements by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, to be delivered by ESCWA Executive Secretary Bader AlDafa, who will be delivering the address of ESCWA as well. Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council Abdulrahman Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah will also address the Session, and Yemen’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Abdul Karim Alarhabi will deliver a statement in his capacity as Chairman of ESCWA 25th Session. With Jordan assuming the Chairmanship of the new Session, its representative, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Jaafar Hassan, will give an opening address. Participants will include ministerial delegations from ESCWA member countries, representatives from non-member countries having observer status, as well as envoys from United Nations organizations, regional and international governmental and non-governmental organizations, and donor bodies. The Agenda of the Ministerial Session includes region-specific items, such as a ministerial roundtable on Youth in the Arab world (Wednesday 19 May, 11:30-13:30) which will bring together heads of delegations, high-level speakers, experts and youth organizations. The round table will provide an opportunity for a constructive dialogue between youth on the one hand, and ministers and other stakeholders on the other, to discuss pressing and relevant developmental issues in the region. The Session will also host another roundtable on human and institutional capacity-building (Wednesday 19 May, 15:30-17:30), which will bring together heads of delegations and high-level speakers and experts. The ESCWA secretariat will present in that round table a document on challenges related to the modernization of the public sector in the ESCWA region, dealing with the importance of building institutional capacities in member countries. The study tackles the aspects countries need to focus on to improve the efficiency of providing basic needs, in addition to the different approaches in modernizing the public sector in member countries in view of their individual situations and conditions. Another item on the Session’s agenda is the progress made in the creation of ESCWA technology centre. The Commission had adopted a resolution to launch of this Centre at its 25th session in May 2008. In support to this resolution, ESCWA took such steps as holding consultations with concerned entities in member countries, choosing the host country and preparing official documents for the agreement between ESCWA and the host country. The Centre aims at building national and regional capacities in fields of science, technology and innovation, for the purpose of achieving economic and social development, boosting levels of development, competitiveness and economic diversification, creating job opportunities, fighting poverty, and improving performance in the field of women’s empowerment. ESCWA is one of the five United Nations regional commissions worldwide. It is composed of 14 member countries: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic, the Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The objective of ESCWA is to facilitate economic and social cooperation among the countries of the region in order to achieve regional integration. This is of particular importance in view of the regional dimension that has become fundamental to dealing with issues of globalization. The Commission also aims to familiarize the outside world with the conditions and needs of the countries in the region. ESCWA activities strengthen regional integration and consider the issues and problems of its members through a regional perspective.
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