UNESCAP-hosted Ministerial Conference on Regional Economic Cooperation and Integration held in Bangkok Dec 17-20

BANGKOK, December 17 (TNA) - Heads of government, ministers and senior policymakers from 34 countries in Asia and the Pacific meet in Bangkok this week, expected to finalize a declaration on regional integration, aimed at promoting inclusive and sustainable growth and reducing shared vulnerabilities and risks of natural and economic disasters. The Ministerial Conference on Regional Economic Cooperation and Integration in Asia and the Pacific, set from December 17-20, is organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) at the request of Asian-Pacific countries during its 68th Commission Session last year. The conference also marks the 50th anniversary of the First Ministerial Conference on Asian Economic Cooperation, which was also convened by the UNESCAP and led to the establishment of the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB). The four-day conference is expected to endorse an agenda for action, aimed at bringing Asian-Pacific countries closer together and moving towards an regional integrated market, seamless hard and soft connectivity and mutual cooperation to address shared vulnerabilities and risks. Two preparatory consultation meetings ahead of this week's conference have led to the formulation of a preliminary draft for a Bangkok Declaration on Regional Economic Cooperation and Integration in Asia and the Pacific, which is being reviewed by the Ministerial Conference for a likely adoption. According to a UNESCAP background document for the Ministerial Conference, UNESCAP member countries at last year’s Commission Session, the annual parliament of Asia-Pacific countries, emphasized the critical role of the regional economic integration in promoting inclusive and sustainable development based on the fact that economic dynamism in Asia and the Pacific is challenged not only by persisting global economic uncertainty, but also by wide development gaps and structural impediments within the region, where 743 million people earning less than 1.25 US dollars a day and more than twice the number live on less than 2 US dollars a day, even though it is the world’s fastest growing region. The UNESCAP background document stated that the region’s dynamism, which is crucial for the elimination of poverty and hunger and for the realization of an Asia-Pacific century, critically depends on its ability to harness the potential of regional economic integration. (TNA)