Press release

26 May 2008

Sana'a-Beirut

UN-ESCWA 25th Ministerial Session Kicks Off, Names

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Under the auspices of President Ali Abdallah Saleh, and the theme of "Financing for Development in the ESCWA region", the 25th Session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, (UN-ESCWA), opened today at the level of senior officials at the Movenpick Hotel – Sana'a. The Ministerial segment is set to be inaugurated on Wednesday 28 May 2008. Speakers at the opening ceremony were the representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which chaired UN-ESCWA 24th Session, Mr. Ahmad bin Habib Saleh, who is also the Economic Advisor at the Saudi Ministry of Planning and Follow-up and UN-ESCWA Executive Secretary Badr Omar AlDafa. In his statement, Salah expressed his wishes for a successful 25th Session. He then handed over the chairmanship of the Session to the representative of the host country Mr. Mohammed Al-Hawri, Deputy Minister for Economic Studies and Projects at the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation. For his part, AlDafa said that despite the difficulties of working conditions at UN-ESCWA headquarters in Beirut, as a result of political upheavals that Lebanon had been experiencing, the Commission has been able to achieve most of its goals for the 2006-2007 biennium, and has recorded a relatively high level of implementation. The Commission has also made good progress in implementing the resolutions that were adopted at the 24th Session. AlDafa added that through its technical cooperation program, UN-ESCWA has provided regional advisory services for member countries, which have contributed to the formulation of policies, building of country capacities and interchange of experience. According to the Executive Secretary, the 22nd session that was held in 2003 adopted a resolution to ameliorate the standard of the Arabic language and terminology used in UN documents. Pursuant to that resolution, UN-ESCWA has drafted a document concerning the establishment of a UN Arabic Language Centre within UN-ESCWA, the aim of which will be to improve the quality of documents and texts issued in Arabic by coordinating and standardizing the Arabic terminology used by the UN and building partnerships and cooperation in establishing a terminology database. The Session's Chairman, Mr. Mohammed Al-Hawri, then said in his opening statement that Yemen has achieved unprecedented accomplishments in its modern history through the election of Governors and a Mayor, in line with instructions by the political leadership to boost the political participation and widen the options of the current ruling body. Al-Hawri added that Yemen recorded significant achievements in the past three decades at the economic, social and political level, as well as at the human development indices. Yemen has adopted an economic reform program in the mid 90s with the cooperation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank that resulted in achieving financial stability, and laid the foundation for a steady economic growth and development. Consequently, the Representative of Jordan was named First Vice Chair and Qatar Second Vice Chair, while the representative of Palestine was named as Rapporteur. Today's discussions revolved around the Report of the Executive Secretary on the Activities of the Commission for the Biennium 2006-2007; the Follow-up to the Implementation of the Resolutions Adopted by the Commission at its Twenty-fourth Session, including the Role of ESCWA in the Light of the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document and the Subsequent Change Process; the Establishment of the ESCWA Technology Centre; the Establishment of an Arabic Language Centre at ESCWA; Strengthening Statistical Capacities in the ESCWA Region; Technical Cooperation, Partnership Development and Resource Mobilization; Financial Status of the Commission and Implemented Activities Financed by the Regular Technical Cooperation Program. Tuesday's discussions are expected to focus on: Strengthening the Role of ESCWA in Addressing the Impact of Conflict and Instability within the Context of Social and Economic Development; Youth Employment in ESCWA Member Countries; the Follow-up to the Development of the Information Society in Western Asia; Social Development Policies; Increasing the Role of Women in Decision-Making with Respect to Conflict Prevention and Peace Building; the Follow-up to the Implementation of Components of the Integrated Transport System in the Arab Mashreq; Reports of the ESCWA Subsidiary Bodies on their Sessions and Revised Draft Strategic Framework for the Biennium 2010-2011. Tomorrows sessions will also witness the launching of the Information Society Portal for the ESCWA Region (ISPER) at 4 pm. UN-ESCWA is one of the five UN Regional Commissions. It is comprised of 13 member countries: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Its objective is to support economic and social cooperation among the countries of the region and promote the development process in order to achieve regional integration.
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