ESCAP Repository (United Nations ESCAP)
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2023 : Leaving no one behind : Thailand country brief
No full textDiscover how different circumstances interact to create unequal access to basic opportunities in Asia and the Pacific.
Explore more about our LNOB analysis at lnob.unescap.org</p
Discovering inclusive business models India
No full textAn interview on inclusive business India.
Safe Harvest was formed in 2009 as a for-profit social enterprise by a small group of
farmer organizations and grassroot organisations. Safe Harvest’s objective is to
strengthen the non-pesticide management of agriculture (NPM) movement in India and
enable farmers to shift to sustainable agriculture by creating a market for their pesticide-
free produce and offering consumers safe and affordable food.</p
A long-term approach for analyzing public debt sustainability : a case study of Mongolia
Get PDFGiven the lack of a long-term, holistic approach to assess public debt sustainability, ESCAP (2023) proposes an “augmented” approach, which duly incorporates a country’s spending needs to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), SDG financing strategies, and governments’ structural development policies that go beyond financial investments. This working paper demonstrates the application of this approach in the case of Mongolia. The quantitative analysis shows that investing in the SDGs would likely result in a surging government debt level due to large spending needs. Yet, after taking into account a package of development policies to foster a green and diversified economy as well as financing strategies to mobilize fiscal resources and attract private finance for development in Mongolia, the government debt level is expected to fall notably in the long run. This calls for official and private creditors, credit rating agencies and financial markets in general to consider public debt sustainability from both short- and long-term perspectives. Governments in developing countries should aim to strike a balance between achieving the SDGs and maintaining long-term public debt sustainability. </p
Asia-Pacific trade and investment trends brief 2022/2023 : Republic of Korea
No full textThis brief covers recent trends and developments in trade and investment. It has been produced as an accompaniment to the Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Trends 2022/2023.</p
Use of mirror analysis for supporting essential data elements for exchange information, in order to mitigate risk of trade mis-invoicing and to reduce the illicit financial flow
Get PDFThe main purpose of this paper is to examine how to use mirror analysis1 for mitigating the risks of trade mis-invoicing and reducing Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs), and affirm it by using mirror analysis in the bilateral trade of four countries.
The term IFFs came into the being in the 1990s, and trade mis-invoicing is the main channel of IFFs (Choi and McGauran, 2018). Combatting cross-border illegal movement activities are not only the responsibility of customs administrations, but also many other law enforcement agencies, including intelligence, police, tax and other authorities that need to cooperate in fighting against IFFs. Therefore, close cooperation among these agencies is required on both the strategic and operational levels.
Clear essential data elements are the best solution for maintaining, developing and strengthening frameworks for exchanging information among the contracting parties. The methodology used in this paper relied on data available at the international level from the World Customs Organization (WCO), United Nations policy documents and the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) International Trade Centre database. One of the solutions for identifying trade mis-invoicing is to conduct a mirror analysis on bilateral trade. Mirror analysis could guide its users on how to filter specific high-risk goods involved in trade mis-invoicing. In addition, it is a useful tool for analysing primary data. However, it must be followed up by action in order to eliminate IFFs. For example, Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) between trading countries should be established to conduct mirror analyses and exchange information about high-risk goods in real time. Such action improves the quality of risk profiling and supports facilitating legitimate trade movements.
This paper comprises five sections. Section 1 presents the introduction and the methodological framework of this study. Section 2 provides the conceptual framework for conducting a mirror analysis and introduces the mode of trade mis-invoicing, which is a main channel of IFFs. Section 3 begins with an overview of the international trade (trade in goods) of China, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Mongolia. It then summarizes an overview of the international trade environments of those selected countries.
In section 4, the mirror analysis estimates bilateral trade among China, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Mongolia in the Asia-Pacific region (goods classified under the HS2 2-digit, 4-digit and 6-digit levels). To undertake a mirror analysis, data provided by INTRACEN and United Nations Comtrade were used. A mirror analysis was made on bilateral trade between Mongolia and China using customs clearance data base. Section 5 provides the main findings of the study and presents further recommendations.</p
Sustainable mechanization-based solutions for climate smart agriculture in Asia and the Pacific
Get PDFAgriculture is among the sectors most vulnerable to climate change. In the Asia-Pacific region, this sector is facing a number of key constraints such as a large proportion of small or fragmented land holdings, use of outdated or inefficient technologies and practices, high dependence on rainfed agriculture, low farm productivity and incomes, low investment capacity of farmers, and environmental challenges including ecosystem and land degradation. These constraints are significantly worsening he vulnerability of agriculture to climate impacts in the region. At the same time, agriculture is an important contributor to climate change. Sustainable mechanization can play a key role in addressing many of the challenges posed by climate change for agriculture in the region. Some of the machinery-based solutions include precision agriculture; mechanized crop residue management to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution from biomass burning;
conservation agriculture; and digital and smart mechanization technologies. In order to reap these potential benefits of mechanization for climate-smart agriculture, it is recommended member States prioritize needs of vulnerable groups such as smallholder farmers and women farm workers, strengthen the policy environment, and leverage South-South and triangular cooperation