ESCWA is convening its 26th Ministerial Session from 17 until 20 May at the UN House in Beirut. Held under the auspices of Lebanon's House Speaker Nabih Berri and in his personal presence, the Session will bring together many high-level Arab officials, senior UN representatives and envoys from donor and other countries.
The Ministerial Session is the main governing body of the Regional Commission and it takes the major decisions on its policies. It is held every biennium to discuss issues of high importance to ESCWA and the region. This year, the highlights of the meeting will be two roundtables on youth and capacity-building, as well as the issue of launching ESCWA’s Technology Center.
Deliberations of the Session will start with a high-level meeting at 10:00 AM on 17 Mayat the UN House. The meeting will discuss the report of the Executive Secretary on the work of ESCWA, including the 2008-2009 program performance and the follow-up to the imple
mentation of resolutions adopted by the 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 cover 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 on 19 May, will feature a statement by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that will be delivered by ESCWA Executive Secretary Bader AlDafa, who will also deliver ESCWA's statement. 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's 25th Session. With Jordan assuming the Chairmanship of the new Session, its representative 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.
Youth
Agenda of the Ministerial Session includes region-specific items, such as a ministerial roundtable on Youth in the Arab world (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.
Capacity-building
The Session will also host another roundtable on human and institutional capacity-building (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 facing modernization of the public sector in the ESCWA region, and the great importance of building institutional capacities in member countries. The study tackles the aspects countries need to focus on to improve the efficiency in providing and meeting basic services and needs, in addition to the different approaches in modernizing the public sector in member countries based on their individual situations and conditions.
Technology Centre
Another item on the Session's agenda is the progress made in the creation of ESCWA’s technology centre. The Commission had adopted a resolution to launch this Centre at its 25th Session in May 2008. In support of 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, all 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.
