Yearbook of the United Nations, 2004. Part 3, Economic and social questions. Chapter 5, Regional economic and social activities

Abstract

The five regional commissions continued in 2004 to provide technical cooperation, including advisory services, to their member States, promote programmes and projects and provide training to enhance national capacity-building in various sectors. Four of them—the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), the Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)—held regular sessions during the year. The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) did not meet in 2004 but was scheduled to meet in 2005. The executive secretaries of the commissions continued to exchange views and coordinate activities and positions on major development issues and on preparations for and follow-up to UN conferences. The Economic and Social Council decided to hold annually a dialogue with the executive secretaries immediately after the high-level segment of its substantive session. The Secretary-General forwarded to the General Assembly the findings and recommendations of the Office of Internal Oversight Services on its audit of the regional commissions, which evaluated the efficiency and effectiveness of their programmes and administrative management. During the year, ECA placed emphasis on mainstreaming trade policy in national development strategies and reaffirmed its commitment to economic growth and poverty eradication as well as to support for sustainable development. ECE focused mainly on economic policies, in particular on those designed to stimulate competitive growth within the region. ESCAP adopted the Shanghai Declaration, by which it reaffirmed the importance of focusing its work on the three thematic areas of poverty reduction, managing globalization and addressing emerging issues, and, in that connection, set forth the actions ESCAP members would strive to undertake. Through the efforts of ESCAP, the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Asian Highway Network was adopted. The Council endorsed the Declaration and welcomed the adoption of the Agreement; it additionally recognized the work of ESCAP in implementing its technical cooperation projects. The Council adopted the San Juan resolution, in which it welcomed the ECLAC document on productive development in open economies and the proactive agenda proposed by ECLAC for meeting the challenges of the productive development process. It also instructed the ECLAC Executive Secretary to evaluate the modalities of ESCAP collaboration with the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti. The General Assembly adopted resolutions on cooperation between the United Nations and several regional organizations.