The 78th session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) opened on May 23 in Bangkok. — VNA/VNS Photo

BANGKOK — The General Statistics Office (GSO) of Việt Nam and the Việt Nam Institute of Agricultural Engineering and Post-Harvest Technology (VIAEP) on May 25 were elected to the Governing Councils of the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP) and the Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanisation (CSAM) under the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

The elections were conducted within the framework of the ESCAP’s 78th session held in Bangkok.

SIAP is a professional statistics training centre for government officials and others working on official statistics. It offers short- and long-term training specifically to strengthen knowledge and build skills of national governments' employees to produce, use, and share reliable statistics, including for the monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals and the development of fact-based policy. 

Meanwhile, CSAM, based in Beijing, aims to enhance technical cooperation among the members and associate members of ESCAP as well as other interested member states of the UN, through extensive exchange of information and sharing of knowledge, and promotion of research and development and agro-business development in the area of sustainable agricultural mechanisation and technology transfer for the attainment of the internationally agreed development goals including the Millennium Development Goals in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Governing Councils of SIAP and CSAM each comprise of the representative of the host country and eight other members elected by ESCAP members.

Established 1947, ESCAP is one of the five regional commissions of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The commission promotes cooperation among its 53 member states and nine associate members in pursuit of solutions to sustainable development challenges.

The annual session will be an opportunity to review achievements of the Asia-Pacific region in socio-economic development and discuss future cooperation and linkage to deal with challenges.

Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam earlier has attended and delivered a speech at the opening of the ESCAP’s 78th session on May 23. — VNS