DUSHANBE, December 13, Asia-Plus – Participants at the first meeting of SPECA Project Working Group on Trade and the second session of the SPECA Coordinating Committee set for December 14-15 are arriving in Tajikistan, according to Tajik MFA.
The first meeting of SPECA (the UN Special Program for Economics of Central Asia) Project Working Group on Trade will be held in Dushanbe on December 14. Staged by UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) Trade and Investment Division and United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), the meeting is aiming to consider issues related to increasing the capacity of Central Asian countries to develop regional trade integration and facilitation policies and increase their competitiveness in regional and global markets.
The second session of the SPECA Coordinating Committee will be held in Dushanbe on December 15. The session is aiming to consider issues related to the decisions taken at the First session of the SPECA Governing Council (Baku, June 27, 2006), implementation of the SPECA Work Plan 2005-2007, progress reports of the Project Working Groups (PWGs), preparations for the session of the PWG on Transport and Border Crossing that will be held in Dushanbe in March 2007, countries accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), prospects for the development of Trans-Asian and Eurasian transit transportation through Central Asia till the year 2015, etc.
A source at the Tajik MFA said that a delegation of the ESCAP led by its Executive Secretary Kim Hak-Su, and a delegation of the ECE led by its Executive Secretary Marec Belka, are arriving in Tajikistan to attend these sessions.
During their staying in Dushanbe, Kim Hak-Su and Marec Belka are also scheduled to hold talks with Tajikistan’s Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov, First Deputy Prime Asadullo Ghulomov and Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zaripov to discuss cooperation issues.
A two-day seminar on trade facilitation in SPECA was held in Dushanbe on December 12-13.
SPECA
was launched in 1998 to strengthen sub-regional cooperation in Central Asia and its integration into the world economy. The members of SPECA are Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It is jointly supported and implemented by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and UN Economic Commission for Europe (ECE).
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) is the regional development arm of the United Nations for the Asia-Pacific region. With a membership of 62 Governments, 58 of which are in the region, and a geographical scope that stretches from Turkey in the west to the Pacific island nation of Kiribati in the east, and from the Russian Federation in the north to New Zealand in the south, ESCAP is the most comprehensive of the United Nations five regional commissions. It is also the largest United Nations body serving the Asia-Pacific region with over 600 staff.
ECE was established in 1947 to encourage economic cooperation among its member States. It is one of five regional commissions under the administrative direction of United Nations headquarters. It has 56 member States, and reports to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). As well as countries in Europe, it includes the United States of America, Canada, Israel and the Central Asian republics. The ECE secretariat headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland, and has a budget in the region of $50 million
