ESCAP Repository (United Nations ESCAP)
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Road safety : saving lives beyond 2020 in the Asia-Pacific region
No full textRoad safety is a sustainable development challenge for the Asia-Pacific region. The Global Status Report on Road Safety published in 2018 by the World Health Organization indicated that more than 60 per cent of the global road fatalities occurred in the Asia-Pacific region. A number of global and regional initiatives have been undertaken in recent years. The General Assembly Resolution 74/299 of 31 August 2020 proclaimed the period 2021-2030 as the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety with a goal to reduce road fatalities and injuries by 50 percent between 2021 and 2030. The United Nations Road Safety Fund (UNRSF) was established in 2018 as a UN Multi-Partner Trust Fund. The most recent regional initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region include the ESCAP resolution 74/3 adopted by the member countries in 2018. In early 2019, the ESCAP secretariat joined the initiative of development partners with a view to helping member countries in improving road crashes and road safety-related data for making best use of them in evidence-based policymaking. The study identified a few road safety-related important topics and recommendations were made towards improving road safety in the new decade
Financial support by MDBs and IFIs to Asia-Pacific region in the time of COVID-19 : helpful, but is it sufficient?
No full textTo cope with the socio-economic impact of COVID-19, countries have sought help from multilateral development banks (MDBs) and international financial institutions (IFIs). As of end-September 2020, MDBs and IFIs have committed close to $40 billion worth of financing for Asia-Pacific countries. Over half of the amount is committed by such institutions from the region.
This financial support initially focused on enhancing the capacity of public health systems and then gradually shifted to fostering economic recovery. However, MDBs and IFIs’ financial support remains insufficient. Lending to cope with COVID-19 falls short of that during the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. Built-in austerity conditions of the loans could reverse the hard-earned recovery gains and impair sustainable development prospects. Actions will be needed to strengthen MDBs/IFIs’ financing capacity, stop or reduce built-in fiscal austerity, and enhance countries’ spending to recover and build long-term sustainability and resilience
Towards better evidence-based policy making : synthesis report on the lessons learnt and best practices in the energy sector of Asia-Pacific
No full textThe report was sythesizing the final results of the project 'Evidence-based policies for sustainable use of energy resources in Asia and the Pacific'. It was emphasizing four components: governance, science and technology (including research), economy and finance, and collective actions: in a framework to deliberate upon common challenges and share the lessons learnt in order to strengthen and institutionalize evidence-based policymaking in Asia and Pacific. These components were identified as the key levers for exploring the transformative potentials of the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 and to accelerate progress towards achieving the SDGs
The disaster riskscape across East and North-East Asia : key takeaways for stakeholders
No full textThe Disaster Riskscape across East and North-East Asia: Key Takeaways for Stakeholders, provides analysis from the APDR 2019 with specific reference to the East and North-East Asia subregion and comprehensively presents its sub-regional riskscape to inform policy actions
Presentation. SDG drivers framework for NCA. 2020 SPECA Economic Forum
No full textTheme: Regional Cooperation to Support Socioeconomic Recovery in the Wake of COVID-19Session VI: Moving Forward: Building Back Better with view to Implement the Sustainable Development Goal
Progress reports on the activities of the SPECA thematic working groups. Fifteenth Session of the SPECA Governing Council
No full textThe Governing Council of the United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) will hold its 15th session on 20 November 2020, on virtual modality. Under the chairmanship of Kyrgyzstan, seven SPECA participating countries, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, will discuss the outcomes of 2020 SPECA Economic Forum and adopt its conclusions and recommendations
Readiness assessment for cross-border paperless trade : Nepal
Get PDFThis report provides an assessment of Nepal’s readiness for cross-border paperless trade, i.e., the conduct of international trade transactions on the basis of electronic data and documents – as opposed to paper-based data and documents. The assessment has been conducted by a team of international experts following the readiness checklist developed by the ESCAP Interim Intergovernmental Steering Group on Cross-Border Paperless Trade Facilitation, of which Nepal is a member.
The team visited Nepal in April 2019 to conduct interviews with relevant government agencies and private sector stakeholders. A national consultation on facilitating cross-border paperless trade was co-organized by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Nepal and ESCAP on 24 July 2019, where preliminary findings from the visits were further reviewed, consolidated and validated. Final findings and recommendations incorporating input and suggestions received during and following the consultation are presented in this report. Based on these findings and recommendations, an initial action plan for moving towards cross-border paperless trade for Nepal has been prepared and is also presented in this report.
The complete set of Cross-Border Paperless Trade Readiness Assessment reports can be accessed : Readiness Assessments for Cross-Border Paperless Trade
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises' access to finance : access to finance in Nepal
No full textThis study provides a broad overview of the access to finance by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Nepal based on extensive interviews with entrepreneurs, financial institutions, and government officials. The study finds that micro- and small enterprises have the most serious difficulties to access credit, as the typical loans of microfinance institutions are too small, while the minimum amounts of loans offered by commercial banks are too large for their needs. To address this “missing middle problem”, the study proposes a rich set of policy options, ranging from a mandated minimum allocation of banks’ loan portfolios to SMEs, to expanding the scope of the Micro Enterprise Development for Poverty Alleviation (MEDPA) program to cover SMEs as well as micro-enterprises, and expanding financial and business literacy programs for MSME entrepreneurs