Technical cooperation forms an integral part of UNECE activities as emphasized
in the 2005 Work Plan on UNECE Reform. The overarching aim of UNECE technical
cooperation is to promote knowledge of internationally recognized standards
and best practices in EECCA and SEE countries, and to improve their national
capacities to implement UNECE instruments and other regional standards. Other
important objectives include:
• Assisting with the formation of institutional frameworks supporting
subregional and regional integration;
• Strengthening the ability of countries with economies in transition
to formulate and implement policies and achieve internationally agreed development
goals; and
• Helping countries with economies in transition elaborate and implement
multisectoral and/or subregional technical assistance programmes/projects
in the areas, in particular those related to resolving transboundary problems.
UNECE involvement in providing technical assistance is stipulated by its
mandate, builds upon its capacity and expertise, and reflects member States’ demand
for this type of services. Its rationale is based upon the clear set of advantages
UNECE offers to member States and partner organizations. In particular, its
ability to carry out normative, analytical, and technical cooperation functions
allows the UNECE to ensure a direct link between intergovernmentally agreed
norms and standards assisting member States in their implementation. Its effectiveness
in establishing and maintaining national and subregional networks of policymakers
and technical experts is essential for ensuring the long-term impact of its
technical assistance to recipient countries. Another important advantage of
UNECE is the availability of in-house technical expertise in policy development
and standard-setting, which allows UNECE to ensure optimal use of the resources
allocated for technical cooperation, and better respond to the demand for
its technical assistance.
UNECE offers the following three main types of services:
• Advisory services aimed at assisting its member States with economies
in transition to implement UNECE legal instruments, regulations and norms,
and to formulate specific technical co - operation programmes and projects;
• Capacity-building workshops, seminars and training courses aimed
at improving the capacity of recipient countries to implement global and UNECE
legal instruments, regulations and norms; and
• Technical cooperation projects, including those with multisectoral
and/or subregional focus, in areas where UNECE has a mandate and/or expertise.
In providing these services, UNECE works to enhance cooperation with other
international organizations and institutions both within and outside the United
Nations system, including the business and academic communities and NGOs.
The main principles underpinning this cooperation include necessities of avoiding
potential duplication of activities, ensuring effective allocation of resources,
and promoting the complementarity of efforts and a more rational division
of responsibilities.
In line with the reform, in 2006 UNECE strengthened the overall intergovernmental
governance of technical cooperation. Greater focus was given to ensuring that
technical cooperation activities took into account the needs to maximize their
impact on the national capacity of recipient countries and strengthen their
monitoring and evaluation as well as reporting on their outcomes to member
States.
UNECE continued to collaborate with other organizations and institutions
involved in the provision of technical assistance in the UNECE region, such
as UNEP, OSCE, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
and the Asian Development Bank. Particular attention was given to cooperation
with UNDP, which throughout the year has been a key partner in many areas.
Technical cooperation with subregional organizations and initiatives such
as the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, Southeast European
Cooperative Initiative/Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe, Eurasian Economic
Community, and CIS continued to deepen in the areas of transport, trade facilitation,
statistics, environment and sustainable energy. Partnership with other United
Nations regional commissions was particularly active in the framework of technical
cooperation projects financed from the United Nations Development Account.
SPECA has been another example of joint efforts in providing technical assistance.
In 2006, regular budget staff of the UNECE Divisions and Regional Advisers
carried out more than 150 advisory missions providing advice and expertise
to transition and emerging economies to help them in their accession to
and implementation of UNECE legal instruments, norms and standards. In
addition, 55 capacity-building workshops, seminars, and other training activities
were organized throughout the year, focusing on UNECE legal instruments,
norms and standards.
Another way in which UNECE provides technical assistance is in the implementation
of nine technical cooperation projects financed from the United Nations Development
Account, of which three were led by UNECE. These joint projects, focused on
capacity-building in such areas as trade facilitation and integration, environment
protection, clean energy, the development of interregional transport linkages
and statistics, helped promote more systemic approaches to resolving specific
development problems of beneficiary countries and strengthened complementarity
of action among the United Nations regional commissions. In 2006, more than
40 other UNECE technical assistance projects/activities were funded with extrabudgetary
resources contributed to its General and Local Technical Cooperation Trust
Funds.
Although it may be premature to assess the overall impact of UNECE technical
assistance this past year, it should be noted that technical cooperation
activities undertaken in 2005-2006 contributed to 28 new ratifications of
UNECE environmental conventions and protocols in 2006, and 52 new accessions
to UNECE legal instruments on transport were registered during the period.
National reporting shows in 2006 member States made significant progress in
implementing both UNECE legally binding instruments and “soft laws”,
in particular recommendations on environment performance, statistical standards,
guidelines on housing policies, recommendations on land administration, guidelines
for energy efficiency, and standards and recommendations for trade facilitation
and electronic business. Advisory services in the field of energy to national
government agencies on the formulation and/or implementation of sustainable
energy projects came to a total value of $32 million for Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Technical cooperation services
delivered in 2006 will in turn contribute to strengthening the impact of UNECE
technical assistance in 2007-2009.
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