United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

Abbreviation	ESCAP
Formation	28 March 1947; 77 years ago (1947-03-28)
Type	Primary Organ – Regional Branch
Legal status	Active
Headquarters	Bangkok, Thailand
Head	Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
Parent organization	United Nations Economic and Social Council
Website	www.unescap.org
Politics portal

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) is one of the five regional commissions under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.^[1] It was established in order to increase economic activity in Asia and the Far East, as well as to foster economic relations between the region and other areas of the world.^[2]

The commission is composed of 53 Member States and nine Associate members, mostly from the Asia and Pacific regions.^[3] In addition to countries in Asia and the Pacific, the commission's members includes France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The region covered by the commission is home to 4.1 billion people, or two-thirds of the world's population, making ESCAP the most comprehensive of the United Nations' five regional commissions.^[4]

History

The commission was first established by the Economic and Social Council on 28 March 1947 as the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) to assist in post-war economic reconstruction. Its main mandate was to "initiate and participate in measures for facilitating concerted action for the economic reconstruction and development of Asia and the Far East."^[2]

On 1 August 1974, the commission was renamed to the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) by the Economic and Social Council to reflect both the economic and social aspects of the Commission's work, as well as geographic location of its members.^[5][6]

Scope

The commission works to address some of the greatest challenges facing the region through results-oriented projects, technical assistance and capacity building to member states in the following areas:^[4]

• Macroeconomic policy and development
• Trade and investment
• Transport
• Social development
• Environment and sustainable development
• Information and communications technology and disaster risk reduction
• Statistics
• Sub-regional activities for development
• Energy

Additionally, the commission provides a forum for its member states to promote regional cooperation and collective action in pursuit of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.^[4]

Member states

There are a total of 53 full member states and nine associate members, four of the member states are not geographically located in Asia or Oceania.

Full member states

The following countries are the full member states of the commission:^[3]

Notes:

^* Not geographically located in Asia or Oceania

^# Least Developed Country

^† Continuation of membership of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

^ǂ Continuation of membership of the Republic of China (ROC)

^{^} Continuation of membership of the French Fourth Republic

Associate members

The following countries and territories are the associate members of the commission:^[3]

Notes:

^* Not a member state of the United Nations

^† Change of name from Hong Kong to Hong Kong, China (01 July 1997)

^ǂ Change of name to Macau, China (20 December 1999) and further changed to Macao, China (04 February 2000)

Locations

Headquarters

The commission was originally located in Shanghai, Republic of China, from its foundation until 1949, when it moved its headquarters to the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand.^[5]

Subregional offices

The commission maintains five subregional offices in order to better target and deliver programs, given the large size of the region.^[7]

The subregions and their headquarters are as follows:^[8]

• East and North East Asia (ENEA) subregional headquarters – Incheon, Republic of Korea
• North and Central Asia (NCA) subregional headquarters – Almaty, Kazakhstan
• South and South West Asia (SSWA) subregional headquarters – New Delhi, India
• South East Asia (SEA) / ASEAN subregional headquarters – Jakarta, Indonesia
• The Pacific (PACIFIC) subregional headquarters – Suva, Fiji

Executive secretaries

The following is a list of the executive secretaries of the commission since its foundation:^[9][10]

Member states

	Secretary	Country	Term
11	Armida S. Alisjahbana	Indonesia	2018–present
10	Shamshad Akhtar	Pakistan	2014–2018
9	Noeleen Heyzer	Singapore	2007–2014
8	Kim Hak-su	Republic of Korea	2000–2007
7	Adrianus Mooy	Indonesia	1995–2000
6	Rafeeuddin Ahmed	Pakistan	1992–1994
5	Shah A M S Kibria	Bangladesh	1981–1992
4	J. B. P. Maramis	Indonesia	1973–1981
3	U Nyun	Myanmar	1959–1973
2	Chakravarthi V. Narasimhan	India	1956–1959
1	Palamadai S. Lokanathan		1947–1956

Publications

The commission releases a variety of publications detailing its work and updates on its mandate, as well as on a wide variety of issues affecting its member states. Some of these publications include:^[10][11]

• Asia-Pacific Countries with Special Needs Development Report
• Asia-Pacific Development Journal
• Asia-Pacific Disaster Report
• Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report
• Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific
• Review of Development in Transport in Asia and the Pacific
• SDG Progress Assessment Reports / Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific