ESCAP turns 50: working at the grass roots.

PositionUN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) celebrates its fiftieth anniversary in 1997. Amid regional challenges and the current financial crisis of the United Nations, two countries asked this year to become new members: Palau, with a population of 17,000, and Turkey, with 63 million people.

The largest of the five United Nations Regional Commissions, ESCAP has undergone many changes since its establishment in 1947. Today, the accent is on action, often at the grass-roots level, with more direct support for cooperation among Governments and a fresh focus on fighting poverty. ESCAP is a unique forum in the huge Asia-Pacific region, bounded by Azerbaijan to the west, Mongolia to the north, Japan and many Pacific island countries to the east, and Australia and New Zealand to the south. ESCAP pursues action-oriented activities to help smooth out the bumps on the often rocky road to development, bridge knowledge gaps, and remove technical obstacles to advancement.

Environmentally sustainable economic growth with social equity poses an enormous challenge in a region burdened with 80 per cent of the world's poor. Urban-biased development efforts in many countries have often led to a rural exodus, growing city slums and other urban problems. In practical terms, ESCAP provides a forum for valuable region-wide consultation on many topics pinpointing potential areas for mutually beneficial cooperation.

The Commission counts 51 members and 9 associate members, representing some 60 per cent of the world's population, or 3.5 billion people. Member countries include highly industrialized nations such as Japan and Australia; dynamic, newly industrialized countries such as the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong, and seven new Republics of Central Asia, which are undergoing rapid economic transition. Thirteen of the world's least developed countries make up one quarter of ESCAP's full members. And 19 small Pacific island developing countries account for over one third of ESCAP's total membership. The smallest member country is Niue, with a population of 2,000, and the largest is China, with over 1.2 billion people.

The winds of change have been blowing through the 15-storey ESCAP headquarters in Bangkok for a couple of years. The Commission has set April 1997 - its anniversary year - as the target date for completion of the strategy for overall reform. In April, ESCAP Executive Secretary Adrianus Mooy said that "our goal is...

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