Economic and Social commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP) Objectives, parts, purpose & importance.
Channel: Pusker
Date: 2022-03-16

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.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
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
Headquarters
The commission was originally located in Shanghai, Republic of China, from its foundation until 1949, when it moved its headquarters to Bangkok, Thailand.[5]
Member states
There are a total of 53 Member States, 3 of them are not part of Asia or Oceania

Full members
The following are all full members of the commission:[3]

 Afghanistan
 Armenia
 Australia
 Azerbaijan
 Bangladesh
 Bhutan
 Brunei Darussalam
 Cambodia
 China
 Democratic People's Republic of Korea
 Fiji
 France
 Georgia
 India
 Indonesia
 Iran (Islamic Republic of)
 Japan
 Kazakhstan
 Kiribati
 Kyrgyzstan
 Lao People's Democratic Republic
 Malaysia
 Maldives
 Marshall Islands
 Micronesia (Federated States of)
 Mongolia
 Myanmar
 Nauru
   Nepal
 Netherlands
 New Zealand
 Pakistan
 Palau
 Papua New Guinea
 Philippines
 Republic of Korea
 Russian Federation
 Samoa
 Singapore
 Solomon Islands
 Sri Lanka
 Tajikistan
 Thailand
 Timor-Leste
 Tonga
 Turkey
 Turkmenistan
 Tuvalu
 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
 United States of America
 Uzbekistan
 Vanuatu
 Viet Nam
Associate Members
The following are all associate members of the commission:[3]

 American Samoa
 New Caledonia
 French Polynesia
 Guam
 Northern Mariana Islands (The)
 Hong Kong, China
 Macao, China
 Cook Islands (The)
 Niue
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 are as follow:

Incheon, Republic of Korea (East and North-East Asia subregional headquarters)
Almaty, Kazakhstan (North and Central Asia subregional headquarters)
Suva, Fiji (The Pacific subregional headquarters)
New Delhi, India (South and South-West Asia subregional headquarters)
Jakarta, Indonesia (South-East Asia subregional headquarters / ASEAN)

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