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Director's Message
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon signs the ENEA Office’s 5th anniversary poster titled “5 Years Connecting North-East Asia”.
“Educated young people are our greatest hope to defeat global threats.” – Ban Ki-moon
The Secretary General was in the Republic of Korea to open UNESCO’s World Education Forum and stress the importance of education and youth among others. His home country, also known for its zeal for education, attentively followed the discussions at the World Education Forum.
We were thrilled to welcome the Secretary-General and his delegation from New York during 18 to 22 May. The ENEA Office spent weeks to prepare for a special event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the United Nations. The special event was held on 19 May in the beautiful atrium of the ENEA Office on the 6th floor of G-Tower and was attended by staff from the UN Offices and international organizations located in ROK. The special event with the Secretary-General also fell on the same week that the ENEA Office celebrated its 5th anniversary on 17 May. Secretary-General Ban graciously signed the poster that our Office had specially prepared to mark our 5th anniversary. You can find the story about our 5th anniversary celebrations with the Secretary-General on the UN-ROK website.
The UN system-wide intranet called iSeek carried a nice article on the 5th anniversary of our Office. Our small and highly dedicated staff that makes so many of our accomplishments possible had a chance to renew their commitment and freshen up team solidarity for the important work ahead with the new Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals.
ENEA Office Staff
Other important events held in May include the release of one of ESCAP’s most significant publications on 14 May in ROK. The ENEA Office organized and hosted the launch of ESCAP’s Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2015 in the Republic of Korea on 15 May. At a gathering of students from Korea’s prestigious Yonsei University and staff from other UN offices in ROK, we highlighted the main themes of this year’s Survey.
The major innovation in this year’s Survey was the development of an “inclusiveness index”. Adopting a multidimensional approach, the Survey assesses the impact of rapid economic growth on the welfare of different groups. This aspect of it received much notice in the media coverage of the launch.
ESCAP’s 71st Commission session was held in Bangkok during 25-29 May and was attended by an ever increasing number of heads of state/government and senior ministers from member countries. As per the practice, I had an opportunity to brief ESCAP member states on the progress made by our Office in positioning itself as the hub for multilateral cooperation in the ENEA region.
The MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in ROK had a significant impact on many of scheduled activities in the country. Our Office was no exception, but we hope to reschedule our activities soon. We are currently busy with preparations for our activities in July, including the NEASPEC meeting on desertification and land degradation (DLD) to be held in Beijing.
Our accomplishments in the month of June include the launch of an initiative to create a network of communications officers from UN offices and international organizations located in ROK to better accommodate the strong interest among the Korean public and intelligentsia for UN related news and information. The purpose of the initiative is to help the offices stay connected and share information and best practices with one another so that they can better publicize their crucial works. The communications officers plan to meet regularly from now on to talk about their planned media activities and strategies and discuss how they can cooperate better.
I hope you enjoy this edition of our newsletter.
As always, we thank you for your continued interest and support.
Kilaparti Ramakrishna
Director, ESCAP-ENEA
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Activities
ENEA Office Launches ESCAP’s Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2015 in ROK
15 May 2015, Songdo, Republic of Korea
ENEA Office Director Mr. Kilaparti Ramakrishna presents the findings of Survey 2015 at the country launch, aired on 21 May by Arirang TV.
The East and North-East Asia (ENEA) Office launched the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2015 on 15 May. Graduate students from Korea’s Yonsei University studying international development and public administration as well as representatives from other UN Offices in ROK attended the launch. The launch was covered widely by Dong-A Daily and Arirang TV among others. Read more
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Visits Republic of Korea
18 - 22 May 2015, Republic of Korea
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opens the World Education Forum 2015 in Songdo, Republic of Korea.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the Republic of Korea from 18 to 22 May, and the ENEA Office gave support to his delegation in areas of protocols, communications and IT services. In particular, Director of the ENEA Office, Mr. Kilaparti Ramakrishna, served on Mr. Ban’s delegation throughout the week for all the activities the Secretary-General had in the ROK. Read more
UN Family in ROK Celebrates UN's 70th anniversary with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
19 May 2015, Songdo, Republic of Korea
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon poses with staff from UN offices and international organizations located in the Republic of Korea.
Despite his busy schedule in the Republic of Korea, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon took time to visit the ENEA Office and celebrated UN’s 70th anniversary with staff from all UN offices and international organizations located in the ROK. The ENEA Office organized and hosted a special event to commemorate the 70th anniversary.
Read more
ENEA Office Conducts North-East Asian Young Conservation Leadership Programme(NEA-YCLP)
17 - 21 May 2015, Ganghwa Island and other areas, Republic of Korea
NEA-YCLP 2015 participants and trainers pose for a group photo with the ENEA Office staff.
The ENEA Office, as the Secretariat of the North-East Asian Subregional Programme for Environmental Cooperation (NEASPEC), implements the Nature Conservation Project on habitat rehabilitation and conservation for key migratory birds in the subregion. In this connection, the ENEA Office supported the North-East Asian Young Conservation Leadership Programme (NEA-YCLP) in May. NEA-YCLP gathered young conservationists, landscape architects and ecologists from the five North-East Asian countries (Russia, Mongolia, China, Republic of Korea and Japan) as well as international experts and trainers. The young participants carried out surveys of the key habitats of Black-faced Spoonbills in Ganghwa Island and its surrounding areas and habitat mapping based on their findings. Read more
ENEA Office Participates in ESCAP's 71st Commission Session
25 - 29 May 2015, Bangkok, Thailand
The 71st session of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific was held from 25 to 29 May at ESCAP Headquarters in Bangkok. The theme for this year’s session was ‘ Balancing the 3 dimensions of sustainable development: from integration to implementation,’ with emphasis on balancing and integrating the economic, social and environmental aspects of development.
To ensure that they make good on their commitment to the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, the Commission resolved to set up a new Committee on Energy. The new Energy Committee will assist the member states in developing strategies towards attaining internationally agreed development goals on energy and to enhance energy security. Read more |
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Upcoming Events
International Workshop on Combating Desertification and Land Degradation
7 - 8 July 2015, Beijing, China
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In early July, the ENEA Office and China State Forestry Administration will host a workshop in Beijing to move forward with combating desertification and land degradation in North-East Asia. North-East Asian countries have been affected by desertification and land degradation (DLD) at varying degrees.
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For instance, China has over a quarter of its landmass and more than 400 million people threatened by DLD. The most degraded areas are concentrated in the country’s north-west, which tend to be poor and geographically marginalized. DLD hinders progress on poverty reduction and socio-economic development and causes adverse impacts on health. The annual direct economic losses caused by DLD in China exceed 120 billion yuan or 19.2 billion US dollars.
The conditions in Mongolia are even direr, as more than 75% of its territory is now under the threats of DLD, including nearly all of its grasslands and pasturelands. DLD has been the most challenging environmental issues in the country, and it has been closely related to its most prominent economic sectors, such as agriculture and mining.
In this context, the Beijing workshop will bring together all stakeholders from the subregion, including government agencies, international organizations, non-governmental organizations and donor agencies, and make a joint action plan that will be shared with all groups for combating desertification and land degradation. At the workshop, the participants are expected to adopt the North-East Asia Multi-Stakeholder Plan (NEAMSP) for Combating Desertification and Land Degradation, which the ENEA Office has proposed as a practical tool to support information sharing and collaboration among various stakeholders.
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Other News
Asia-Pacific High-Level Consultation on Financing for Development
29 - 30 April 2015, Jakarta, Indonesia
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The head of the ENEA Office, Mr. Kilaparti Ramakrishna, attended and supported the Executive Secretary of ESCAP in the conduct of the Asia-Pacific High-Level Consultation on Financing for Development held in Jakarta, Indonesia late April. While the international community is expected to adopt a transformative post-2015 development agenda and a new climate change agreement, the visionary goals will not be deliverable without a far-reaching financing strategy. The consultation |
provided an opportunity for member and associate members of ESCAP and other stakeholders, including private sector, academia and civil society organizations, to explore innovative financing instruments and tools. The sessions in the consultation resulted in a number of tangible recommendations, such as increasing tax bases for both individual and corporate income taxes in the Asia-Pacific economies and bolstering the investment of the private sector to fund education, health and environmental protection, especially at the community level.
ENEA Office Hosts the 1st Meeting of UN Communications Officers
9 June 2015, Songdo, Republic of Korea
In response to the repeated requests of the host country that places a high premium on the visibility of UN Offices in local media outlets, the ENEA Office in June organized and hosted the first meeting of communications and public relations officers from UN offices and international organizations located in Songdo, Republic of Korea. The objective of the meeting was to discuss communications-related matters among UN Offices in Songdo for knowledge sharing and initiating a platform for cooperation.
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Do you have any questions for ESCAP, the ENEA Office or the ENEA staff? Would you like to learn more about what we do and what we plan to do in the coming months?
Please send us your questions to escap-sroenea-registry@un.org , and we will make sure your questions are answered.
Thank you! We look forward to receiving your questions. |
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Established in May 2010, the East and North-East Asia Office of ESCAP supports and promotes inclusive and sustainable development and cooperation among six member States (China, Japan, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Republic of Korea and Russian Federation) and two associate members (Hong Kong and Macao) in Northeast Asia.
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