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ESCWA Discusses Financial Crisis, Launches 35th Anniversary

17
July
2009
Beirut

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) will hold the 3rd Meeting of its Technical Committee in Beirut on 21 July to discuss the financial crisis, food safety, climate change and some internal issues of the Commission. The meeting's opening at the UN House will also witness the official launching of the 35th Anniversary of ESCWA.

The Technical Committee was established pursuant to a decision by the Commission at its 24th session in 2006 with the aim of enhancing interaction and close consultation between member countries and ESCWA's Secretariat on substantive development issues. The Technical Committee meets every six months, and its first session was held in January 2008. Its membership comprises high-level officials from member States.

The opening of the Technical Committee will be addressed by a senior official from Yemen, the current Chair, and by the Executive Secretary of ESCWA, Bader AlDafa. The opening ceremony, to which senior representatives and reporters from the media are invited, will also feature a musical concert by Ladies in Harmony. A reception in honour of prominent guests and the media will be held after the opening.

The Technical Committee provides advice and assistance to the Secretariat in drawing up proposals for the strategic framework, the programme of work and priorities, consistent with guidance provided by the Commission. It also contributes to the follow-up on implementing resolutions of the Commission and any other outstanding matters that require action. The Committee also has a role in following up the implementation of ESCWA's work programme and activities, including the mobilization of extra-budgetary resources to support their implementation. It finally helps in identifying emerging economic and social issues and other relevant priority issues for incorporation into the provisional agendas of the Commission's sessions and the subsidiary intergovernmental Committees, and it carries out any other tasks entrusted to it by the Commission.