A high-powered intervention by 23 former national Presidents, 22 former Prime Ministers, a former UN General Secretary and 3 Nobel Laureates is being made today to press for an urgent agreement from international negotiators on a Pandemic Accord, under the Constitution of the World Health Organizaion, to bolster the world’s collective preparedness and response to […]
Tackling the pandemic of inequality in Asia and the Pacific
Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana After two years of human devastation, the world is learning to live with COVID-19 while trying to balance the protection of public health and livelihoods. For countries in Asia and the Pacific, this is challenging not only because national coffers are heavily strained by record public spending to mitigate pandemic suffering, but […]
Informal CIS Summit in St. Petersburg
Elvira Kadyrova On 28 December 2021, an informal summit of the CIS Heads of State took place in St. Petersburg. The traditional end-of-year gathering was attended by: First President of Kazakhstan – Elbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus President Sadyr Zhaparov of […]
Combating COVID-19 and Ensuring No One is Left Behind
Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Kanni Wignaraja, and Bambang Susantono If the world wants to beat back the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure no one is left behind in the recovery, two issues thrown into sharp relief by the pandemic need attention: digitalization and regional cooperation. Ensuring the digital transformation reaches all in Asia Pacific is one of […]
A Global Model to Tackle Violence against Women
António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations As the world grapples unevenly with the effects of COVID-19, a parallel and equally horrific pandemic has threatened half the world’s population. In the early months of the pandemic, the United Nations projected that quarantines and lockdowns could lead to a shocking 15 million additional cases of gender-based […]
Universal civil registration and vital statistics are critical for truth, trust and COVID recovery in Asia and the Pacific
Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Kanni Wignaraja, Omar Abdi With health systems at a breaking point, hospitals at capacity and desperate family members searching for oxygen for loved ones, the devastating second wave of COVID-19 that has swept across South Asia has felt ¬surreal. Official figures have indicated record-breaking daily coronavirus cases and deaths, not only in […]
Outcomes of SPIEF 2021 – Areas of direct relevance for Central Asia – Part One
nCa Report The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) is an annual event, being held since 1997. It was initially a platform to discuss development, business and economy within the Russian Federation and CIS but the scope has gradually expanded to make it an occasion of global importance. Since 2006, it has been held under […]
President of Turkmenistan speaks at Global Roundtable on Extractive Industries as an Engine for Sustainable Development
President Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan made an important speech on 25 May 2021 at the UN-led global roundtable on extractive industries as engine for sustainable development. The event, anchored by Secretary General António Guterres was held in the video format. This was the last of the five roundtables focused on FFDI – Financing for the Development […]
UN ESCAP REPORT ‘BEYOND THE PANDEMIC’ LAUNCHED
Bangkok – Broadening social protection, investing in a sustained recovery, keeping goods and information flowing, and protecting environmental health will be key to emerging stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a flagship report released by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) today. The theme study for the […]
Uzbekistan to hold online conference on the pandemic impact on Central Asia
Elvira Kadyrova The Parliament and the University of world economy and diplomacy of Uzbekistan (UWED) will hold on 16-17 September 2020 an online International conference “Impact of the pandemic on Central Asia: Initial Lessons, Coronacrisis and Perspectives for transformation”. According to UWED press release, the virtual forum, which will bring together the academic community, parliamentarians, […]
Financing economic recovery
Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana As the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the length and breadth of Asia and the Pacific, finance ministries are continuing their relentless efforts to inject trillions of dollars for emergency health responses and fiscal packages. With continued lockdown measures and restricted borders, economic rebound seems uncertain. Compared to 2019’s […]
Turkmenistan – WHO mission arrives for Covid-19 preparedness and response consultations
A mission of WHO (World Health Organization) arrived on Monday, 6 July 2020, has arrived for consultations with Turkmenistan on Covid-19 preparedness and response and related matters. The 5-member delegation, led by Dr. Catherine Smallwood, landed at the Turkmenabat airport, the only international airport of Turkmenistan currently open for international flights. The mission will stay […]