The Ministerial Session of UN-ESCWA is the governing body of the Commission. The session is held every two years, in accordance with UN-ESCWA resolution 196 (XVII) on the frequency of sessions of the Commission and the Technical Committee. It is assisted by the specialized subsidiary intergovernmental bodies listed below, which serve as points of interaction on programmatic issues between the specialists of the member States and the substantive staff of the UN-ESCWA secretariat. The 24th Session was the most recent ministerial session held by UN-ESCWA. It took place in Beirut, between 8-11 May 2006.

The Standing Committee for the Programme, the main subsidiary body of the Commission, was established by ECWA resolution 114 (IX) of 12 May 1982 on the ECWA medium-term plan for the period 1984-1989. The Standing Committee was subsequently redesignated as the Technical Committee by ECWA resolution 125 (XI) of 26 April 1984 on the general policy-making structure of the Commission. To avoid possible confusion between the name, Technical Committee, and the names of the six sectoral technical committees established during the period 1996-1997, its name was changed to the Preparatory Committee by virtue of UN-ESCWA resolution 223 (XX) of 27 May 1999.

There are seven specialized subsidiary inter-governmental committees that report to the ministerial session of the Commission and which, in accordance with UN-ESCWA resolution 219 (XX) of 27 May 1999, meet once every two years with the exception of the Transport Committee which meets on an annual basis. The six committees are:

1. The Statistical  Committee, established by UN-ESCWA resolution 179 (XVI) of September 1992;
    

2. The Committee on Social Development, established by UN-ESCWA resolution 198 (XVII) of 31 May 1994;
    

3. The Committee on Energy, established by UN-ESCWA resolution 204 (XVIII) of 25 May 1995;
    

4. The Committee on Water Resources, established by UN-ESCWA resolution 205 (XVIII) of 25 May 1995;
    

5. The Committee on Transport, established by UN-ESCWA resolution 213 (XIX) of 7 May 1997;
    

6. The Committee on Liberalization of Foreign Trade and Economic Globalization, established by UN-ESCWA resolution 214 (XIX) of 7 May 1997.
    

7. The Committee on Women, established by UN-ESCWA resolution 240 (XXII) of 1 October 2003

The above committees were established to assist the Commission in formulating its work programme in their respective areas of competence.