Introduction
by the UNECE Executive Secretary
The first quarter of 2003 was dominated by
the concerns linked to a possible war with
Iraq. These concerns have had an important
impact on both the political and economic situation
of the region. In particular, the increase
in the cost of energy and the gloomy
economic prospects had a slowdown effect on
most of the economies of the UNECE region.
Paradoxically, once the war had started the
economic situation tended to stabilize and the
year ends with a surprisingly strong economic
recovery in North America. Two elements
remained constant, however, throughout the
year namely the security concerns and –
although somehow reduced due to the rapid
ending of the Iraq war – global uncertainties.
Improved expectations for a global cyclical
recovery in 2004 – with major regional differences
– are not without significant downside
risks. Doubts remain about the strength of
growth in the United States, on how long it will
last, and whether the United States economy
will resume its role of engine for world growth.
The picture of protracted sluggishness of the
European economy in the euro area, and
mixed developments in Central Europe, is
perhaps improved by a strong economic
upturn in the Russian Federation, Ukraine and
other economies of the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS). But there remain
many other uncertainties, such as the
increase of oil prices, the further appreciation
of the euro against the dollar and the yen, and
the impact of Asian economies on repairing
global imbalances. The answers to these
questions will be of key importance in the
shaping of the economic situation of the
UNECE countries during 2004 and most likely
far beyond.
In 2003 the UNECE, thanks to its flexibility,
was able to adapt to international developments
in the region. In the field of security,
UNECE reacted immediately to the energy
threats posed by the possibility of war, by
organizing together with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) a
roundtable on energy security with all major
stakeholders in this area. The Tenth Ministerial
Council in Porto, Portugal, 6-7 December
2002, renewed its commitment to the
economic dimension of security and invited
UNECE, in close working relation with the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE), to take the lead in making
the economic dimension of security more relevant
to conflict prevention and at the same
time to contribute to the preparation of the
OSCE New Strategy Document. Strengthening
the role of UNECE in the economic and
environmental dimensions of conflict prevention,
and the mandate assumed to be given to
develop an early warning system in the
economic and environmental dimensions in
Maastricht, Netherlands, December 2003, by
the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the OSCE
members, will have to be reconsidered at the
next UNECE Annual Session in February
2004.
No doubt May 2004 will be a new milestone in
European history as it will mark unprecedented
European Union (EU) enlargement
and close the West, Central and East European
divide. Fully in line with its mandate,
UNECE is working to prevent a new divide
between the EU-enlarged and non-acceding
countries. UNECE legal instruments for trade
facilitation, transport, energy and environment
provide the basis for the further cooperation of
non-acceding countries with the enlarged EU
as there is a need for non-acceding countries
to adopt and implement standards and legislation
that is not identical to, but complies with,
the EU body of law. UNECE in cooperation
with the European Commission (EC) therefore
organized in 2003 sectoral “Beyond enlargement”
workshops on the impact of enlargement
on the energy sector, trade,
environment, transport (in cooperation with
the European Conference of Ministers of
Transport (ECMT)) and on regulatory convergence
(in cooperation with the Greek Government). It will hold a joint workshop
with the
OSCE on the economic dimension of security
after EU enlargement in early 2004.
In the context of the information society and
Information and Communication Technologies
(ICT) for development, which is a key concern
for all countries, the UNECE was, in 2003,
responsible for coordinating the regional
commissions’ contribution to the preparation
of the World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS) Declaration of Principles and
Plan of Action, in which the regional dimension
of implementation was explicitly recognized.
The role of UNECE in Geneva (and
from Geneva to Tunis) in preventing or eliminating
the digital divide includes the exchange
of best practice, providing an assessment of
achievements in the knowledge-based
economy at country level (14 Country Readiness
Assessments Reports have been issued
in 2002/03 on “Towards a Knowledge-based
Economy”), and implementing a gender
perspective in building an information society
(Second Forum of Women Entrepreneurs in
Geneva, March 2003). UNECE has long and
excellent expertise in e-commerce
(UN/CEFACT, UN/EDIFACT, UNe-Docs), in e-government,
and in collaboration with the
Economic and Social Commission for
Western Asia (ESCWA) implements the e-Med project funded from the United
Nations Development Account. These efforts – as
intended – will lead to a regional plan for the
information society in 2004/05.
At the World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD), Johannesburg 2002, the role
of regional commissions in sustainable development
was agreed upon. The 2003 Spring
Seminar provided momentum to proceed with
in-depth discussion on the relationships
between growth and environmental degradation,
whilst the High-level Segment of the 58th
Annual Session underscored the importance
of national strategies and the role of regional
cooperation to promote national efforts in
sustainable development. It was also decided
that the UNECE Regional Implementation
Forum, as a follow-up to WSSD, would be
held in January 2004. The Forum will also
renew the organization’s preparedness to
assist member States in the progress towards
sustainable development which assumes the
integration of all three dimensions: economic,
environmental and social.
Apart from these new undertakings, UNECE
has and will continue its efforts in many areas
where it has recognized expertise and skills,
and has also embarked in emerging areas
relating to new regional and global concerns.
In doing so, UNECE proves its commitment to
multilateral cooperation and works within its
mandate to achieve the goals defined in the
United Nations Millennium Development
Project, and the resolutions of the General
Assembly and the Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC), as well as declarations
adopted at the United Nations conferences.
UNECE is successfully pursuing its international
law-making activities. The fifth Ministerial
Conference “Environment for Europe” in
Kiev adopted three new protocols to UNECE
conventions. At the same time, UNECE
increasingly produces “soft” legislation in the
form of guidelines, e.g. guidelines for
reforming energy prices to meet sustainable
development objectives, guidelines on condominiums,
on housing finance (forthcoming),
for cost-benefit analysis of transport infrastructure
projects, for public-private partnerships
(PPPs), etc. Guidelines in general are
intended to address the main challenges in
different UNECE areas and although they do
not define standard solutions, they provide a
general framework based on experience and
best practice for decision-making in the
national context.
UNECE has further strengthened its collaboration
with United Nations and non-United
Nations organizations, country groupings and
all relevant stakeholders in member States:
governments, civil society and the private
sector. Concerning the latter, there is no doubt
that UNECE is a leader in building partnerships
between the United Nations and the
business community in energy, industrial
restructuring, trade, transport and the environment.
Collaboration with the business sector
is indispensable in developing standards and
norms (e.g. technical standards for e-business),
in discussing how to ensure energy
security (a good example is the Gas Centre),
and so on. UNECE is a strong advocate for a
closer public-private partnership by initiating
the network of public-private-units at the
national level, drafting guidelines for PPPs
and good governance for PPPs. The recent
corporate governance failures have put corporate
governance reform on the policy agenda.
UNECE has not only analysed developments
in improving corporate governance in the
Economic Survey of Europe, 2003 No. 1, but
has decided in cooperation with other organizations
(such as the International Chamber of
Commerce) to take on board more systematically
the issue of good governance in its niche
areas such as corporate governance in the
energy sector, good governance for SMEs
and for PPPs.
The UNECE 2003 and 2004 objectives and
targets cannot be achieved without the strong
dedication and hard work of the secretariat in
servicing intergovernmental bodies, in
preparing numerous publications, in developing
and expanding analytical capacity, in
working on indicators, data collection and
databases, and in providing technical assistance
to member States particularly in South-East Europe and CIS. The reform
initiated by the Secretary-General in 2002 inspired many
reform actions at the level of the secretariat.
In 2003, UNECE has continued to strengthen
cross-sectoral cooperation by means of crossdimensional
task forces (on information
society, on security, and on global public
goods for instance), to increase transparency
and improve information-sharing in the work
of the secretariat and UNECE (by introducing
UNECE Weekly, proposing a new knowledgesharing
initiative for government representatives,
deepening analytical thinking by
brainstorming and new academic discussions,
and a fellowship programme). We hope very
much that these efforts will allow us to
continue responding to the expectations of the
member States and reinforce multilateral
cooperation in the UNECE region.
|
Brigita Schmögnerová
Executive Secretary
United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe |