Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 29 / Trend E. Kosolapova/
The Governing Council of the United Nations Special Program for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) at the session in Bangkok elected Kazakhstan as chair-country for one year, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) reported on Thursday.
"It takes the succession of Turkmenistan, which chaired SPECA for the period 2010-2012," UNECE said.
A side event of the Governing Council was devoted to assessing progress in the implementation of decisions of the Fifth Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan in the SPECA framework.
The Representative of Afghanistan as well as the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Afghanistan, Jan Kubis, and the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Central Asia, Miroslav Jenca, expressed support to the development and implementation in the SPECA framework of projects facilitating regional economic cooperation between Afghanistan and Central Asian countries.
In his opening remarks at the Governing Council Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and UNECE Executive Secretary Sven Alkalaj underlined the importance of a thorough discussion of regional aspects of the post 2015 development agenda and implementation of the Rio+20 priorities in the SPECA framework, as recommended by the Economic Forum.
The Governing Council also took note with appreciation of the Proposals on strengthening SPECA presented by UNECE and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). It welcomed the offer by their Executive Secretaries, Sven Alkalaj and Noeleen Heyzer, to undertake consultations in the capitals of SPECA member countries on these Proposals in the course of 2013, with a view to present these to the next session of the Governing Council that will be hosted by Kazakhstan in the last quarter of 2013.