Western Asian countries maintained their fourth consecutive year of robust growth as a result of rising oil prices in the first half of 2006. But the surge in oil export revenues will temper in 2007, and growth in the ESCWA region (excluding Egypt) will likely moderate from 5.8 percent in 2006 to 4.9 percent in 2007, according to a new UN report.

Under the patronage of Mr. Abdelilah Benkirane, Chief of Government of the Kingdom of Morocco, the city of Rabat is hosting a high level meeting organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) in cooperation with the other regional commissions of the United Nations on 5-6 February 2013. The meeting is carried out with funding from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada.

On 2-4 April 2014, the Jordanian capital Amman hosted the “Arab High Level Forum on Sustainable Development” organized by ESCWA in cooperation with Ministries of Planning and International Cooperation and of Environment in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the League of Arab States (LAS) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). The Forum, which was inaugurated by HRH Prince Hassan Bin Talal, gathered a crowd of government officials, officials from the United Nations and its specialized agencies, LAS specialized agencies, funding institutions and the civil society.

In the framework of tracking the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG7 and its related indicators, the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) is organizing a seminar on: “Monitoring the Implementation of Energy Related SDG Indicators” in the Arab Region.
 
The objective of the seminar is to consult on the progress achieved by ESCWA’s member countries on the implementation of the SDG7 goals with additional focus on climate actions and the interlinkages between SDG7 and SDG13 and finally provide an opportunity to fill the data gaps present in the Arab region.