STATEMENT BY UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC 17TH GMS MINISTERIAL

CONFERENCE PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA 3-4 AUGUST 2011 Excellencies, Colleagues and Participants Ladies and Gentlemen The UN ESCAP is happy to play our part in contributing to the successful implementation of the new Strategic Framework for the GMS 2012-2022. ESCAPs value-add to the process is to provide the necessary and relevant capacity-building to the member economies of Asia and the Pacific region, including the GMS Countries. In this connection, ESCAP is pleased to update you on some of our ongoing and upcoming work in the GMS region: Transport ESCAP has continued to promote development of the Asia Highway Network (AHN) and dry ports in the GMS countries. For AHN, ESCAP is implementing a project to conduct prefeasibility studies for development of selected sections of the highway network that can be considered for financing by development banks and private sector. Similarly, for the dry ports project, ESCAP is assisting Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar in undertaking prefeasibility studies to enhance their national capacity. ESCAP is also working to develop an inter-governmental agreement on dry ports. The first sub-regional meeting to discuss the working draft of the agreement was held in Vientiane, Lao PDR from 7-8 July 2011. In addition, ESCAP has been organising training courses for freight forwarders, multimodal transport operators and logistics service providers in the GMS countries. There are plans to organise further follow-up training courses in Cambodia and Myanmar by October 2011 to assist them in establishing sustainable training programmes. ESCAP is also exploring possibility to organize a PPP-readiness assessment workshop and a national seminar in Myanmar to raise awareness and capacity in PPPs for infrastructure development. Agriculture Our regional center based in Beijing, China, APCAEM (Asia Pacific Centre for Agricultural Engineering and Machinery), will conduct two capacity building/training projects by October 2011. The first is to develop a situation analysis which would lead to the development of appropriate agricultural mechanisation strategies to increase food production, productivity and advancement of rural economies. The second is a workshop which focuses on building capacity of relevant stakeholders on suitable post-harvest technologies for rice production, including utilisation of

energy-efficient machineries adaptable to local conditions for adoption to reduce post-harvest losses. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Another of our regional centre, the United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (APCICT), based in Incheon, South Korea, has rolled out its flagship programme, Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders in 20 Asia-Pacific member countries, including Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam. Five training workshops have since been organised in these countries in strategic collaboration with national partners, such as training institutions and government ministries. The programme aims to build up capacity of policymakers/government officials on use of ICT for socio-economic development and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. APCICT aims to promote ICT Development capacity building in GMS countries via the Academy programme through an inclusive and participatory approach, and also based on the principle of national ownership. It will encourage institutionalisation of the Academy training in national frameworks for long-term sustainability. Statistics The UN Statistical Institute of Asia Pacific (SIAP), together with the Statistics Division of ESCAP, has long been providing its capacity building programmes to the government statistical officials of the GMS countries, through a variety of modalities, such as country-based trainings and distance trainings using internet and/or satellite. Since its inception, SIAP has trained about 3,200 government officials in GMS region including 382 from Cambodia, 708 from China, 402 from Lao PDR, 430 from Myanmar, 751 from Thailand, and 499 from Viet Nam. In this unique way, SIAPs long sustained regional support has helped the region to develop both quality and quantity of their statistics officials and thus, contributed to each of their national policy development on economic and social issues. Trade, Investment and Private Sector Development ESCAP has, for the last decade, been involved in promoting Small-and-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and private sector development for the GMS. ESCAP launched a 3-year technical assistance project to promote the participation of SMEs in global value chains in the GMS, with generous financial assistance from Japan. The project would be implemented in close collaboration with ADB, Mekong Institute and the GMS Business Forum. ESCAP looks forward to working with all GMS Governments and development partners to support sustainable and inclusive growth in the region. It is in our interest to witness a strong and prosperous GMS in the heart of Asia Pacific. Thank you.