动态一：东亚东盟经济研究中心（ERIA）最新动态
1. Prof Nishimura Elected as ERIA President
The Governing Board (GB) of Economic Research Institute of ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) unanimously reelected Prof Hidetoshi Nishimura as president to head the leading Jakarta-based international economic research organisation.
Prof Nishimura, a Yale graduate, has helmed ERIA since its inception in 2008. His third term comes at the crucial time as ERIA is commemorating its 10th anniversary.
Prof Nishimura emphasised in his opening remarks that ERIA will be key to providing high-quality research and policy recommendatio ns to leaders across East Asia. At the GB meeting last week, ERIA Governors also elected a new chairperson and hosted a consultative meeting with Jakarta-based ambassadors of ERIA member states and dialogue partners.
动态二：东亚东盟经济研究中心最新出版物
The Eurasian Land Bridge: The Role of Service Providers in Linking the Regional Value Chains in East Asia & the European Union
Rail links between China and Europe are typically analysed in the context of China's Belt and Road Initiative, focusing on China's economic rise and the implications for international relations. This paper argues that establishment of the China-Europe Land Bridge predated the Belt and Road Initiative and has been market-driven, as service-providers identified and responded to demand for efficient freight services along pre-existing railway lines. Governments' role was trade facilitating, i.e. reducing delays and costs at border crossing points, rather than investing in hard infrastructure. Service-providers responded by linking European and Asian value chains (e.g. in automobiles and electronic goods) and reducing costs for traders shipping between China and Europe. The Eurasian Land Bridge provides a case study of 'servicification' as a component of increased trade in the 21st century.
动态三：国际货币基金组织 (IMF) 最新出版物
1. Fiscal Policies and Gender Equality
The gender gap is shrinking, but progress remains uneven. This book reviews approaches to chip away at the barriers preventing women from achieving their full economic potential.
For more information
2. Women, Work, and Economic Growth
The challenges of growth, job creation, and inclusion are closely intertwined. This volume looks at the gender gap from an economic point of view.
For more information
动态四：联合国粮食及农业组织 (FAO)最新动态
1. 20 actions to transforming food and agriculture
New FAO tool lists concrete steps ways to speed up implementation of the Sustainable Development Agenda
To help policy makers and other development actors accelerate progress towards global promises to end poverty and hunger, FAO has released a set of 20 inter-connected actions designed to show the impact sustainable agriculture can have on tackling the world's greatest challenges.
Transforming food and agriculture to achieve the SDGs offers a practical guide for countries on how to strengthen food security, generate decent employment, spur rural development and economic growth, conserve natural resources and respond to climate change - all part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
"For the first time, FAO has put together a set of interconnected tools that can help fix our broken food systems, and show that from the roots of sustainable food and agriculture come the fruits of transformation," Maria Helena Semedo, FAO Deputy Director-General, Natural Resources, said at an event during FAO's annual governing Council meeting.
FAO acts as custodian of almost 10 percent of the 232 components of the SDG indicator framework endorsed in 2017 by the UN General Assembly, which range from food security to sustainable production, and from clean water to life below water and life on land.
The new publication, crafted as a learning tool offers a compendium of how-to pointers to expedite actual implementation of the SDGs - at a time when rising world hunger, soil and land degradation and other woes related to our food systems demand an urgent response.
The new practical guide, which details how the sustainable development goals are interlinked, is useful for investors, researchers and technical practitioners as well as decision makers responsible for integrating the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda. It underscores how the overall vision is one "in which food and agriculture, people's livelihoods and the management of natural resources are addressed not separately but as one."
2. Europe highlights FAO’s unique role in achieving sustainability in food and agriculture
Council of the European Union stresses close cooperation with FAO on climate, food waste, antibiotics resistance
The Council of the European Union has stressed FAO's role as a knowledge-based organization for sustainable agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, as well as food security and nutrition. In deliberations, the Council adopted conclusions on the EU and its member states' medium-term priorities for the FAO.
The Council - comprised of the agriculture ministers of the 28 EU Member states and the EU Commission - highlighted that "FAO has a substantial role to play in the context of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement."
It also specified that its members encourage FAO "to maximise the full potential which sustainable agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture offer to create synergies between the climate change and development agendas".
It likewise called upon FAO to continue its efforts to foster sustainable production and to pay particular attention to agroecology and organic farming as well as sustainable soils, forest and fisheries management.
"We welcome the Council of the European Union's reaffirmation of its strong support for FAO and are eager to further our work in the areas emphasized," said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva. "Our food systems must be made sustainable or, eventually, they won't feed the world."
The Council noted that the European Union and its member states are "prime contributors to the overall FAO budget".
Thematic priorities listed in the conclusions include: inclusive economic growth and decent rural employment; nutrition; addressing the drivers of poverty, inequality and irregular migration; combating illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing; facilitating smallholder family farmers' access to markets; promoting women's empowerment; and tackling excessive food price volatility.All are areas where FAO is already engaged, through its Strategic Framework and its Programme of Work and Budget.
Adequate resourcing for Codex Alimentarius, the International Plant Protection Convention - both housed at FAO - and for joint activities undertaken with the World Health Organization and World Organisation on Animal Health regarding transboundary animal diseases and anti-microbial resistance are highlighted as well.
The Council furthermore called on FAO to regularly report on progress made regarding gender equity and on its partnerships contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
动态五： 亚洲开发银行(ADB) 最新动态
1. ADB's Private Sector Operations Commitments Reach $2.3 Billion in 2017
Asian Development Bank (ADB) private sector operations over the past year reached $2.3 billion, growing the bank’s overall portfolio of private sector operations by 17% to $10.9 billion, according to ADB Private Sector Operations Department’s (PSOD) Development Effectiveness Report 2017.
The 27 new private sector operations committed in 2017 accounted for 13.4% of overall signed regular ordinary capital resources financing. Last year’s commitments were complemented by $5.9 billion in cofinancing, representing 50% of all cofinancing mobilized by ADB. The report was released in Manila, Philippines at the 51st Annual Meeting of ADB's Board of Governors.
“ADB is firmly committed to partnering with the private sector to help improve infrastructure, expand access to finance, and achieve the Paris Agreement on climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals,” said ADB Vice-President for Private Sector and Cofinancing Operations Mr. Diwakar Gupta. “PSOD will continue to ambitiously work to expand its private sector operations from 13.4% to 20% of total commitments by 2020, including by working in new frontier markets and sectors and increasing support for high-level technologies to improve development impact.”
ADB private sector transactions committed in 2017 are expected to create 17,000 new jobs in Asia and the Pacific, while generating more than $492 million in government revenues and enabling the procurement of $2.2 billion of goods and services from local firms. Private sector commitments last year are also projected to improve infrastructure access and services, helping treat 750 million cubic meters of wastewater every year and generating around 7,755 gigawatt hours of electricity—enough to power 870,000 households.
Private sector operations support for financial inclusion in 2017 will result in over 11.8 million individuals and small businesses in the region having better access to finance. Among these, 90% are expected to be women or enterprises owned by women. Agribusiness projects committed last year will help more than 2,800 farming households, while over 400,000 farmers and rural households are expected to benefit from improved financial services.
Active private sector operations have already contributed to the region’s economy, providing employment for an additional 133,850 people and training 308,000 beneficiaries, mostly in financial literacy. ADB’s private sector clients have also achieved carbon emissions reductions of 4.1 million tons annually.
The figures in the report are based on ADB’s new performance measure of “commitments,” or the amount of loans, grants, and investments signed in a given year. This indicator was introduced in 2017 to promote project readiness at approval stage, expedite post-approval steps, and get closer to project disbursement, by placing more emphasis on when the projects are signed, rather than when they are approved by ADB’s Board of Directors.
2. ADB Seminar Furthers Potential of Broader CAREC-BRI Collaboration
Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) member countries can capitalize on new regional and international development dynamics, including the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), to strengthen regional infrastructure, boost trade, and reduce poverty, according to participants at a high-level Asian Development Bank (ADB) seminar.
“CAREC and BRI uphold common visions of improving connectivity for shared prosperity,” said ADB Vice-President Mr. Wencai Zhang. “The overlapping geographies of CAREC and BRI provide further impetus for close coordination to jointly build resilient and sustainable regional infrastructure, strengthen trade links, and create jobs and greater economic opportunities for all our countries.”
Participants agreed that CAREC member countries can benefit from the emerging enabling environment for economic cooperation in the region. Participants shared their insights on how stronger collaboration among regional and international cooperation initiatives can support this process. They agreed to continue the momentum of discussion and identify concrete regional investment projects to deepen economic cooperation in the region.
The session, which was organized on the sidelines of ADB’s 51st Annual Meeting in Manila, Philippines, included an opening presentation from Deputy Director General of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Ministry of Finance Mr. Liu Weihua. Other participants included Uzbekistan Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Sukhrob R. Kholmuradov, Georgia Minister of Finance Mr. Mamuka Bakhtadze, and Azerbaijan Minister of Finance Mr. Samir Sharifov, as well as international development partners.
During the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in May 2017, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the PRC and six multilateral development banks (MDBs) including ADB. The agreement highlighted the MDBs’ preparedness to cooperate with BRI, in the context of each MDB’s respective country and subregional partnership strategies and programs.
Following this, at the 16th CAREC Ministerial Conference in October 2017, ministers from the 11 member countries signed the “Dushanbe Declaration,” which commits these countries to building stronger ties between CAREC and BRI. CAREC seeks to cooperate closely with BRI to promote economic growth, prosperity, and elimination of poverty in the region.
Over the past two decades, the CAREC program has grown from 6 projects worth $247 million in 2001 to 185 projects worth more than $31.5 billion as of December 2017. It has helped establish multimodal transportation networks; increased energy trade and security; broken down trade barriers; facilitated the free movement of people and freight; and laid the groundwork for the development of economic corridors.
动态六: 联合国社会发展研究所(UNRISD ) 最新动态
United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)
1. World Social Work Day 2018
Over 100 visitors came to UNRISD to celebrate World Social Work Day with us this year, together with a consortium of local and international partners. The theme in Geneva was “Social Work and Youth. Towards Inclusive Sustainable Development”, and the 2-day event featured interactive workshops on topics like Youth and Marginalized Minorities , Youth and Extremisms , as well as UNRISD's contribution Mobilizing Youth for Transformative Change . After the expert panels and speeches, there was even an occasion for the local and the international communites to network and socialize at a "Mix & Mash" event, with live music and a quiz.
2. From UNRISD to UNICEF: Research to Transform Children's Lives
It will soon be easier for UNICEF policy makers to use UNRISD research to make their policies for children transformativ e and fulfil the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, thanks to progress made at a successful project workshop held at the UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti in Florence on 9 March. The project provides policy makers with pointers on how to assess the transformative potential of policies, based on the UNRISD Flagship Report Policy Innovations for Transformative Change . The final report could be an important tool to push discussions within UNICEF on the need for integrated approaches that extend beyond the traditionally child-focused policy areas such as social policies.
动态七：联合国社会发展研究所最新出版物
1. Feminist Mobilization, Claims Making and Policy Change: 4 articles published in Development and Change
Nitya Rao, Paola Cagna, Anne Marie Goetz, Rob Jenkins, Naila Kabeer These articles published in Development and Change seek to understand how policy change to strengthen women’s rights occurs. They come from the UNRISD research project When and Why Do States Respond to Women’s Claims? Understanding Gender-Egalitarian Policy Change in Asia , carried out between 2013 and 2015 with funding from the Ford Foundation and support from UNRISD’s institutional budget provided by the governments of Sweden, Switzerland and Finland. A wide range of project outputs , including the country research reports, policy briefs and videos, are available on open access.
2. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through Social and Solidarity Economy: Incremental versus Transformative Change
In a context where an increasing number of governments are promoting policies that aim to support organizations and enterprises that make up the social and solidarity economy (SSE), this paper assesses the effectiveness of such support. It does so from the perspective of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), by considering whether the uptake of the SSE agenda by governments can scale up and enable SSE in ways conducive to realizing the transformational vision of the SDGs.
