The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a comprehensive framework adopted in 2015 by
world leaders to eradicate poverty and ensure access to basic services for all, offers an unprecedented
opportunity for the Asia-Pacific region to transform its economies through an integrated development framework, balancing the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability.
The General Assembly has entrusted ESCAP to support member States in their efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda, especially in facilitating effective follow-up and review, while supporting national governments in their sustainable development priorities through regional policy consistency and coherence.
As a regional commission, ESCAP is strategically positioned to accelerate this implementation given
its interdisciplinary nature, its broad analytical expertise, its technical cooperation capacity and its
unique convening power of outreach and engagement with governments, civil society and development partners.
At the 72nd Commission session in May 2016, member States adopted a series of resolutions focusing
on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their supportive tracks including mobilization and coordination of finance; trade and investment; science, technology and innovation (STI); data and statistics; and climate and disaster resilience.
Under the guidance of member States, ESCAP has been working to streamline both the conference structure and its work programme to better align with these mandates.
In particular, ESCAP is strengthening its intergovernmental platforms through high quality analytical work to promote policy integration and stability, and advice to member States on options and modalities
for financing of development, trade facilitation and ways to leverage STI, along with supportive capacity building.
ESCAP is also supporting national statistical offices to engage governments, the private sector, academia and civil society for the production, dissemination and use of statistical information to support the implementation of the Goals in their national contexts.
The Asia-Pacific region has never been better equipped to tackle existing and emerging development
challenges than it is today. With the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, Asia-Pacific has the blueprint for the future in terms of global sustainable development and supportive financing, as well as a new agreement on climate action. It also has the resources needed to implement the Goals but with more than 2.6 billion people in the region still living on less than $2 per day, many significant challenges remain.
This report is a reflection of the work ESCAP is undertaking to support its member States in implementing
the 2030 Agenda. It includes links to our analytical work along and e-learning tools that we hope wil
l be useful for these member States as well as other stakeholders, in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.