ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan will be among the key speakers at the opening of the annual session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-Escap) on Monday.

Heads of state and government, senior officials and other stakeholders from across the Asia-Pacific region are set to take stock of the socio-economic impact of Covid-19 and scale up regional cooperation in response to the pandemic.

The seventy-seventh session of Escap will be held virtually from April 26 to 29 under the theme, “Building back better from crises through regional cooperation in Asia and the Pacific”. It will also review the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly in the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and the Pacific island.

This will be first time, the prime minister of Pakistan will speak at the annual UN-Escap session. Acco­rding to the list of speakers announced by UN-Escap, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajid, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Raja­paksa, presidents of Tajik­istan, Turkmenistan, Uzbek­istan, Mongolia and President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council Munir Akram will also address the Escap session.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2021