H.E. Millicent Cruz-Paredes, Ambassador of the Philippines to Thailand and Philippine Representative to United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), was elected as one of the Vice-Chairs of the 77th Session of ESCAP, which was held on April 26-29, with participants from 52 of the Commission’s 62 Member States, together with associate members and international organizations attending virtually.
Ambassador Paredes successfully chaired the Ministerial Segment of the 77th Session, including Commission Members’ general debate on the theme topic “Building back better from crises through regional cooperation in Asia and the Pacific.” At the general debate, Members shared their experiences and lessons learned from the socio-economic impact of COVID-19, and made the strong call for scaled-up regional cooperation in response to the pandemic.
Ambassador Paredes also led the session of the heads of major subregional groups across the Asia-Pacific on their subregional perspectives and experiences from the pandemic, and the dialogue on the progress of Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Pacific Island Developing Countries.
Ambassador Paredes, together with fellow Vice-Chairs, the Permanent Representatives of India, Mongolia, and Australia to ESCAP, assisted the Chair of the 77th Commission Session, H.E. Mukhtar Tileuberdi, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan.
The Commission Session is the annual Ministerial-level meeting and policy forum of UNESCAP Member States and other stakeholders to discuss and decide on important issues pertaining to inclusive and sustainable economic and social development in Asia and the Pacific.
For more information and videos of the 77th Commission Session,
please visit [https://www.unescap.org/commission/77].
Source: Philippine Embassy Bangkok