MOSCOW, April 24 /ITAR-TASS/. Russia will make a annual contribution of 1.2 million U.S. dollars to the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). An agreement to this effect was signed on Thursday at the ESCAP headquarters by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov and ESCAP Executive Secretary Shamshad Akhtar, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported.
“Our country will make an annual contribution of 1.2 million U.S. dollars to fund joint projects of technical assistance,” the ministry said. “The permanent character of Russia’s donorship will make it possible to ensure more efficient planning of joint project activities and ensure their maximal practical yield,” Gatilov noted.
The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) serves as the regional arm of the UN in economic, social and related fields. Its work includes norm-setting, dissemination of information, analytical and operational functions, as well as providing an important forum for articulating regional perspectives on global issues and for building consensus within the Asia-Pacific region. The ESCAP programme promotes inclusive and sustainable economic and social development in Asia and the Pacific, with particular focus on reducing social and economic disparities within and among countries in the region.
Russia jointed the ESCAP donor club in 2009. Over this period, Russia’s money was used to implement more than 20 projects in the areas of transport, energy, ecology, statistics, information and communications technologies, social development, etc.
Russia’s geographic priorities in ESCAP include countries of Central and Northeastern Asia. The bulk of Russia-sponsored technical assistance projects have a regional scope.
With Russia’s financial assistance, an Asia Pacific energy forum was held in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Vladivostok in May 2013, when ministers of the Asia Pacific countries adopted a roadman of regional energy cooperation for the next five years. Other ESCAP projects carried out in partnership with Russia included a forum of transport ministers of Asian countries and the signing of an intergovernmental agreement on inland transport and logistics facilities (dry ports) in the Asia Pacific region.