Her Excellency Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana,
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of ESCAP,
Distinguished heads and representatives of the sub-regional organizations,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to take part in the 78th session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific as the Commission commemorates 75th anniversary of its establishment. Today's discussion will provide an opportunity to outline our developmental priorities with ESCAP and also on the ways of synchronizing our efforts with regional and sub-regional groupings.
Today, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is considered as a transregional organization. SCO has achieved significant results in its activities and is perceived in the international arena as a reliable and predictable partner. Our region is blessed with a large landmass, abundant manpower and natural resources, connectivity and logistics hubs, and has enormous potential to become one of the leading drivers of the global economy.
With this backdrop, SCO is working to create enabling conditions to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by incorporating it in our plans and activities.
SCO has an official relationship with organizations like Eurasian Economic Commission, ASEAN, ECO, CICA and several UN bodies working in the region.
UNESCAP has been an active partner of SCO since 2015. The Memorandum of cooperation between our organizations is being updated to incorporate the new areas and priorities of our joint work. SCO has benefitted from the rich and long experience of ESCAP through joint interactions and it's in depth reports and publications. We intend to continue to work closely with ESCAP and all interested partners on common issues for our joint benefit.
The following areas of cooperation seem to be priorities both in collaboration with ESCAP and between regional organizations, of course under the auspices of ESCAP:
— Digital Economy
— Trade and investment
— Transport and improvement of transit potential
— Energy and Ecology Management
— Industry
— Sustainable Agriculture Development
— Tourism
— Eradication of poverty, unemployment and illiteracy
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
We attach great importance to today's discussion. We consider it useful to hold such events under the auspices of ESCAP on a regular basis, including consultations between individual regional organizations jointly with ESCAP.
We also consider it necessary to hold joint thematic meetings under the auspices of ESCAP for experts from member states of individual regional organizations in accordance with the provisions of their cooperation documents.
Moreover we could also consider establishing direct contacts between non-governmental structures of SCO such as the Business Council, the Interbank Association, the Consortium of Economic and Analytical Centers, the Youth Council and the SCO University with similar structures of other major regional associations. This can lead to wider engagement between the organizations across a variety of stakeholders.
In the closing, I want to highlight one point with honnor that Shanghai is the common place of birth for both ESCAP and SCO. So, I'd like to extend my congratulations to the leadership and team of ESCAP for the 75th anniversary of its establishment. I am confident that our today's event will lead to generation of important ideas that will be useful for all of us in our respective work ahead.
Thank you for your attention.