Bangkok--26 Oct--UN
ESCAP to launch its first trade and investment report on 29 October
A new United Nations report finds that exports from the Asia-Pacific region could rebound strongly in 2010 and makes a strong case for enhanced intraregional trade to reduce poverty.
The report, “Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report 2009: Trade-Led Recovery and Beyond,” is scheduled to be launched by Noeleen Heyzer, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), at 2 p.m., Thursday, 29 October, at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand in Bangkok. She will be joined by Ravi Ratnayake, Director of ESCAP’s Trade and Investment Division, and other officials from the Division.
The report looks at such questions as the validity of the trade-led development model in Asia-Pacific, whether China can lift the region out of recession, and what lessons has the crisis revealed to make development more inclusive and sustainable in the years ahead. It also examines how regional integration contributes to development, and whether private enterprise should continue to pursue “business-as-usual.”
The report is ESCAP’s first annual publication dealing with trade and investment, and looks at the role of trade and investment in addressing the most critical issues, challenges and risks facing the Asia-Pacific region — as the global economic crisis slowly draws to an end — and explores the opportunities for Asian businesses provided by global value chains.
The report notes that gains from facilitating trade, including the introduction of “paperless trading systems” could far surpass those of trade liberalization, and explores how trade can play a bigger role in development by making it inclusive and sustainable. For that purpose, the report identifies the changing determinants of business competitiveness.
The Report is the main background document for ESCAP’s Committee on Trade and Investment, which will hold its first session from 4 to 6 November in Bangkok. Keynote speakers include Kasit Piromya, Foreign Minister of Thailand, and Kiat Sittheeamorn, President, Thailand Trade Representative.
The Committee meeting is also part of a string of high-level events organized by ESCAP during the First Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Week, to be held from 2 to 6 November, and includes the Asia-Pacific Trade Economists’ Conference and the OECD/ESCAP Conference on Corporate Responsibility.
For further information, please contact:
Mr. Marc Proksch
ESCAP Trade and Investment Division
Tel: +(66-2) 288-1680
Email: [email protected]
Ms. Thawadi Pachariyangkun
UN/ESCAP Information Services
Tel: +(66-2) 288-1861
Email: [email protected]