Thailand – As I have worked on some UN agencies, such as UNEP, UNICEF, UNESCO, etcetera, it is a pleasure getting to know more about United Nations on Economic & Social Commision for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). In this ocassion, there were 3 speakers on my visit on 18 January 2013. The first one was Mr. Andrew Kobylinski who gave welcome remarks. He talked a lot about the history of ESCAP. It was established on 1947 in Bangkok, Thailand as the Headquarter. Based on the data revealed, the membership consists of 62 governments, 58 of which are in the region, and a geographical scope that stretches from Turkey in the west to the Pacific island nation of Kiribati in the east, and from the Russion federation in the north to New Zealand in the south.

Then the presentation was continued by Mr. Osama Rajkhan as social affair officer of social & development division. He gave us insight about the role of ESCAP on social & human development in ASEAN countries, in which there was also a brief de!==!==!--script--====ion on 5-year plan of action (more about this please visit http://www.unescap.org/news/asia-pacific-adopts-five-year-plan-action-application-space-technology-disaster-risk-reduction)

Last but not least, the presentation by Dr. Syed Naruzzaman as Chief of Countries with Special Needs from Macroeconomic Policy and Dvelopment Division. He shared the knowledge and perspectives on ASEAN and Asia-Pacific MDGs.

As we know, MDGs will end in 2015 and there is also already a blueprint on Sustainable Devleopment Goals. It is important for ASEAN to seek for a balance of power and stable relations by fosterin a more integrated community and reinforcing ASEAN?s centrality as a driving force in charting the evolving regional architecture. So that countries members of ASEAN can achieve the sustainability in a better way.