The Ministerial Session of ESCWA is the governing body of the Commission and is held once every two years.

Following an invitation by the Syrian Arab republic to host the twenty-third session of ESCWA, and the unanimous decision of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations in last November, the twenty-third Ministerial Session of ESCWA was held from 9-12 May 2005 in Damascus, Syria.

In addition to discussing the various activities undertaken by the Secretariat since the twenty-second session, the Commission tackled the following central issues:

=> Issues of concern for the West Asia region incorporating three themes of direct relevance to ESCWA’s work and priorities of the member countries were addressed in three roundtables. The first dealt with the impact of peace and stability in the region on economic and social development. The achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in the ESCWA member countries which is a main concern for the region was the focus of the second roundtable. In the third roundtable, the formulation and implementation of social policies in the member counties of the ESCWA region was dealt with as a central issue that plays a major role in further enhancing economic and social development. In this roundtable a brief account of developments made and setbacks hindering the formulation of social policies in the region was presented. Heads of delegations and eminent persons participated in these roundtables as panelists and addressed the participants of the session on these priority issues.

=> The adoption of the MoU on cooperation in the field of Maritime Transport in the Arab Mashreq which is the third stage of the Integrated Transport System in the Arab Mashreq (ITSAM) developed by ESCWA as a concrete step to facilitate regional integration. This agreement on maritime transport is the third after the Agreement of the international roads in the Arab Mashreq (May 2001) and the Agreement on International Railways in the Arab Mashreq (April 2003).