United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

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.[5][6]

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

Additionally, the commission provides a forum for its member states to promote regional cooperation and collective action in pursuit of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.[4]

There are a total of 53 Member States, 3 of them are not part of Asia or Oceania

The following is a list of the executive secretaries of the commission since its foundation:[8][9]

Member States

	Secretary	Country	Term
11	Armida S. Alisjahbana	Indonesia	2018–present
10	Shamshad Akhtar	Pakistan	2014–2018
9	Noeleen Heyzer	Singapore	2007–2014
8	Kim Hak-Su	Republic of Korea	2000–2007
7	Adrianus Mooy	Indonesia	1995–2000
6	Rafeeuddin Ahmed	Pakistan	1992–1994
5	Shah A M S Kibria	Bangladesh	1981–1992
4	J. B. P. Maramis	Indonesia	1973–1981
3	U Nyun	Myanmar	1959–1973
2	Chakravarthi V. Narasimhan	India	1956–1959
1	Palamadai S. Lokanathan		1947–1956

The commission releases a variety of publications detailing its work and updates on its mandate, as well as on a wide variety of issues affecting its member states. Some of these publications include:[9][10]

• Asia-Pacific Countries with Special Needs Development Report
• Asia-Pacific Development Journal
• Asia-Pacific Disaster Report
• Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report
• Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific
• Review of Development in Transport in Asia and the Pacific
• SDG Progress Assessment Reports / Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific

• United Nations System
• United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
• United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (overlapping membership)
• United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (overlapping membership)
• Trans-Asian Railway Network Agreement
• Asian Highway Network

• UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
• ESCAP Pacific Operations Centre EPOC
• Centre for Alleviation of Poverty through Secondary Crops' Development in Asia and the Pacific (CAPSA)
• The publication Asia and the Pacific: A Story of Transformation and Resurgence provides a detailed overview of ESCAP's work since the late 1940s (1947-2014).