UNESCAP launches South and South Asia Development Report 2012-13

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) launched its South and South Asia Development Report 2012-13, on 1 November, at the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) Auditorium in Colombo.

The report titled, ‘Regional Cooperation for Inclusive and Sustainable Development,’ is expected to be an essential tool for policy makers, development professionals, economists and other interested parties. The report argues that regional cooperation can help solve many of the sub-region’s challenges and help secure a more sustainable future.   In the decade ahead, the sub-region’s member states have a chance to cooperate amongst themselves to ensure that their dynamism and development success are sustained, and that the sub-region re-emerges as the hub of East-West trade that it once was.  It features a foreword by Dr. Noeleen Heyzer, the UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP, and an Executive Summary by Dr. Nagesh Kumar, Director of ESCAP South and South-West Asia Office and ESCAP’s Chief Economist.

Dr. Saman Kelegama, Executive Director of the IPS, delivered the welcome address while Dr. Kumar made a presentation of the report, in the presence of Chief Guest, Dr. Sarath Amunugama, Senior Minister of International Monetary Cooperation, Ministry of Finance and Planning.

Following the launch, a panel discussion was held featuring Anushka Wijesinha, Research Economist at the IPS, Dr. Anura Ekanayake, former President of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, and Dr. Indrajith Coomaraswamy, former Director General of Economic Affairs at the Commonwealth Secretariat, UK.