The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) convened the Technical Committee on Liberalization of Foreign Trade, Economic Globalization and Financing for Development during 4-5 October 2011 at the UN House, Beirut. The Committee was established under its previous name Technical Committee on Liberalization of Foreign Trade and Economic Globalization in the Countries of the ESCWA Region, pursuant to Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) resolution 214 (XIX) of 7 May 1997, which was endorsed by the Economic and Social Council in its resolution 1997/12 of 18 July 1997. The Committee was mandated to undertake the following tasks: (a) to contribute to the identification of concerns and priorities of ESCWA member countries with respect to multilateral trade agreements and negotiations; (b) to monitor developments in global trade negotiations and in establishing economic and trade blocs, and to coordinate the stances of member countries in that regard; (c) to cooperate with ESCWA secretariat in the formulation of programmes to assist the countries of the region in designing appropriate policies for economic development at the national and regional levels, with a view to maximizing the benefits of those countries from the trends in liberalization of foreign trade and economic globalization; and (d) to formulate programmes to be taken jointly by the countries of the region, in cooperation with other regional and international organizations, for training, exchange of expertise and research.
The current session aimed to provide a forum for discussion of developments of the negotiations of the Doha Development Round since the adoption of the Doha Development Agenda in 2001 and to discuss the issues related to financing for development, including the progress achieved by member countries in the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus and the main issues emerging in the way of financing for development; and engage those countries in the identification of priorities for the proposed programme of work of ESCWA in the fields of liberalization of foreign trade, economic globalization and financing for development under its strategic framework for the biennium 2012-2013.
