The Executive Secretaries of the five UN Regional Commissions met at the UN House in Beirut to discuss some of the main issues on the global and UN agendas and means of further enhancing their cooperation.
The meeting brought together the Executive Secretaries of the Geneva-based Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), Jan Kubis, the Bangkok-based Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Noyleen Heyzer, the Santiago-based Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Barcena, the Addis Ababa-based Economic Commission for Africa, Abdoulie Janneh and the Beirut-based ESCWA, Bader AlDafa. Chiefs of the regional commissions explored cooperation in their vast areas of work, particularly in energy efficiency and environment protection, food security, gender concerns, and financial issues in the face of a lingering economic crisis that has had wide-ranging global effects.
While in Beirut, the senior UN officials paid courtesy visits to the three top Lebanese leaders, to whom they also expressed condolences for the tragic airplane crash early Monday. Lebanon had declared Monday a day of national mourning following the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines plane just minutes after its takeoff from Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut.
The high-level UN officials also opened the fourth meeting of ESCWA's Technical Committee that was attended by ambassadors and representatives of the 14 member countries of the Western Asian commission.
The meeting convenes "while the world is weighed down by disasters and crises, some are natural and others man-made," AlDafa said in his inaugural remarks. He added that these times add to the challenges we face, but that they renew our commitment to work towards the social and economic development of our region.
The technical committee was slated to discuss issues of special relevance to the ESCWA region, especially climate change, food security and women’s empowerment. These issues are of particular importance for an area that suffers from water scarcity, relies on food imports and has a lot to achieve for women's empowerment. These also are issues that impact heavily on the future of the region's development.
