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52nd Escap

session in Bangkok

from 17th

ISLAMABAD: The fifty-second session of the Economic and Social Commission of Asia and the Pacific (Escap) will devise strategies to combat the "poverty amidst plenty" dilemma that threatens to cloud an otherwise rosy economic picture for the region.

A press release issued by UN Internation Centre here on Sunday, said heads of governments, ministers and senior officials from 59 member and associate member countries and territories of Escap will gather in Bangkok, from April 17-24 to discuss vital issues concerning the region's future. They are expected to encourage the private sector to play an even greater role in development. "The remarkable progress of the region has not benefited all its countries and peoples, many of whom remain among the world's least developed", notes Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali in Escap's 49th edition of the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 1996, to be launched on Tuesday, April 16.

The week-long commission session will review, among other aspects of development, the region's growth performance, which averaged 7.8 percent in 1995 against a world average growth rate of 2.6 percent.

The major theme for the commission will devise strategies for the alleviation of rural poverty and will focus on infrastructure development, issues of sustainability, and emerging issues, such as food security and the impact of the Uruguay Round of multilateral negotiations on the agricultural sector.-PPI