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Beirut, 15 April 2003 (United Nations Information Service)
--The twenty-second ministerial session of the Economic and Social
Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) resumed its deliberations for
the second day at the United Nations House in Beirut.
Today's discussions reviewed the Report of the Executive Secretary
on the activities of the Commission since the twenty-first
ministerial session held in Beirut in May 2001.
ESCWA Executive Secretary Mervat Tallawy underlined the main
achievements of the Commission, including the publication of 104
studies and reports; organizing 88 meetings and conferences;
delegating 252 official missions as well as launching 15 vital
projects. "In addition to the governmental technical committees,
the Committee on Science, Technology and Technological Innovation
was created," she said.
Tallawy added ESCWA studies covered the fields of Energy, Natural
and Environmental Resources, Social Development, Sustainable
Development and Productivity, Economics, Statistics, Globalization
and Regional Integration.
After having cited the four axis of work at ESCWA, including
enhancing Arab regional integration, following up at the regional
level on the international conferences, providing advisory and
technical cooperation, and implementing field projects in Member
States, Tallawy underlined the importance of the Agreement on
International Roads in the Arab Mashreq at the level of regional
integration, and highlighted the most important regional
preparations ESCWA had undertaken prior to world summits and
international conferences such as the World Summit on Sustainable
Development (Johannesburg Summit), the Fourth Ministerial
Conference of the World Trade Organization held in Doha (Qatar) in
2001, and the World Summit on the Information Society expected to
be convened in Geneva in December 2003.
Speaking of ESCWA advisory services, Tallawy observed that Member
States benefited from 226 services provided by the Commission
during 2001-2002.
Concerning Palestine, Tallawy reminded the delegates that ESCWA
continued to prepare an annual report on the "Economic and Social
Repercussions of the Israeli Occupation on the Living Conditions
of the Palestinian People in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,
Including Jerusalem, and of the Arab Population in the Occupied
Syrian Golan."
Then, ESCWA Chiefs of Divisions gave detailed reports on the most
important achievements fulfilled by their teams since the
twenty-first session.
It is worth noting that yesterday's deliberations started by a
public roundtable on "the Impact of the Lack of Stability in the
Western Asia Region on Economic and Social Development." The
roundtable, which was chaired by Lebanese Defense Minister Khalil
Hraoui, convened the heads of delegations as well as three
prominent Lebanese political thinkers: former Minister of Finance
and Economy Elias Saba, Fahmia Sharafeddine, Secretary-General of
the Arab Association of Social Studies and Professor Hisham Shrabi,
lecturer at several American and Lebanese universities.
Participants in the roundtable stressed the importance of
enhancing the role of the United Nations and the League of Arab
States. They also stressed the necessity of international
legitimacy in order to achieve interaction with the civil society
and enable it to contribute to decision-making.
Participants agreed on the fact that the lack of stability was the
greatest obstacle facing development and that the problems of the
Arab region were due to the domination over the region's
resources. They stressed the necessity of activating the links
between decision-makers and all social factions, including
non-governmental organizations.
In addition to the Draft Program of Work and Priorities for the
Biennium 2004-2005, the third day of the session will be
discussing Strengthening the Arab Regional Cooperation and the
Role of ESCWA in Coordinating Regional Activities of the United
Nations.
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