United Nations Under-Secretary-General  Dr. Shamshad Akhtar met with Economic Planning Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director-General Arsenio M. Balisacan on April 24 at the NEDA Pasig.  Akhtar, who is Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), requested the Philippines’ support for the Financing for Development Dialogue, adding that the ESCAP is planning to hold the Asian Financing for Development Debate in the Philippines within the next two years.

 

Akhtar said that ESCAP is ramping up regional cooperation in building resiliency, reduction risk, and shielding vulnerabilities, citing that climate change is amplifying the intensity and quantity of disasters in the region. Balisacan agreed that economic development can be easily eroded by failure to invest in disaster risk reduction.

 

Dr. Akhtar was assigned in the Philippines for 15 years under the Asian Development Bank. She was accompanied by ESCAP Strategy and Programme Management Division Director Adnan H. Aliani, and Partnerships, Strategy and Programme Management Division Programme Officer Maria Misovicova.

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