DUSHANBE, December 15, Asia-Plus – The second session of the SPECA (the UN Special Program for Economics of Central Asia) Coordinating Committee opened in Dushanbe today.
The session is considering 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.
The SPECA project 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) and visiting Kim Hak-Su, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and Marec Belka, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), are taking part in the session’s work.
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. 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.
