The Department of Export Promotion (DEP) in collaboration with the Furniture Industry Club, the Federation of Thai Industries, and the Thai Furniture Industries Association, is organizing the Thailand International Furniture Fair 2010 (TIFF 2010), under the concept of “Living A Green Life”. This event gives business operators a chance to both exhibit their latest furniture designs and seek business partnerships. TIFF 2010 will take place during March 10th-14th, at IMPACT, Thailand.
Mrs. Srirat Rastapana, DEP Director-General, stated that, “The global concerns about climate change have driven designers around the world to originate a new concept of furniture design in order to help raise public awareness on global warming. Such a concept has become a new trend in furniture design. To capitalize on this opportunity, the DEP has planned to arrange this year’s TIFF event under the concept of “Living A Green Life”, which is in compliance with the rising global trend.
“The event will be divided into two parts. During the first three days, March 10th-12th, the event is open exclusively for trade negotiations, while in the last two days, March 13th-14th, it is open for public retailing. Apart from being a spectacular, all-inclusive showcase of Thailand’s very best furniture production capacity and design, TIFF 2010 promises to be a great platform for leading Thai furniture manufacturers, entrepreneurs, designers and operators of related businesses including spare parts, machinery and interior decor materials, to meet with potential buyers and counterparts from overseas. It’s a great chance for virtually everybody in the furniture industry to seek alliance and reach common success.” added Mrs. Srirat.
Mrs. Srirat further noted that, “TIFF 2010 is anticipated to be the most comprehensive furniture exposition ever staged in Thailand. This expectation is to encompass the various aspects of the event including the number of participating exhibitors; revolutionary furniture designs; and, the trade and business opportunities it will present to international visitors and exhibitors themselves. In addition, TIFF 2010 will pave the way for professional Thai designers to demonstrate their capabilities to the world, through collections of unique furniture designs or furniture items made from innovative, eco-friendly materials. The event is expected to welcome more than 33,000 international visitors from Japan, USA, EU, India, Middle East, Africa, Canada, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
UN meeting embraces cooperation to cut risks from storms in Asia-Pacific region
Typhoon committee concludes session in Singapore
With typhoon-related damage accounting for more than half of the economic losses from natural disasters, along with a marked increase in recent extreme weather events, countries in the Asia-Pacific region have agreed at a United Nations meeting to work closely together and coordinate their efforts.
This was one of the major outcomes of the 42nd Session of ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee, convened by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP) in cooperation with the World Meteorological Organization
(WMO) and hosted by the National Environment Agency of Singapore. The five-day meeting closed today in Singapore.
This year’s session focused on the effect of climate change on tropical cyclones in the Typhoon Committee region. Results of an initial assessment show either a decreasing trend or no trend in the annual number of tropical cyclones and typhoons in the Western North Pacific and the South China Sea.
Participants pointed out that climate models project fewer but more intense tropical cyclones in this basin in a warmer climate.
Typhoons continue to cause havoc in many countries of the region. In 2009, 22 tropical cyclones formed over the Western North Pacific and the South China Sea, 13 of which reached typhoon intensity. Three of them – Ketsana, Parma and Morakot – caused severe damage and losses in the Philippines, Cambodia, Viet Nam, and Taiwan, Province of China.
The Committee identified urban flood risk management as a key area for future work, given that high damage caused by tropical cyclones usually happens in populous cities when they bring heavy rainfall. The Committee said it was well-prepared to tackle this issue since its work covers meteorology, hydrology and disaster prevention and mitigation.
The Asia-Pacific region is one of the most vulnerable to natural disasters.
From 1950 to 2005, 54 per cent of worldwide deaths caused by natural disasters – or approximately three million people –occurred in this region.
The wind storms and floods associated with typhoon-related impacts account for 57 per cent – or approximately $33.5 billion – of the economic losses in the region during the same period.
ESCAP, in collaboration with WMO, founded the Typhoon Committee in 1968.
The founding members were: China; Hong Kong, China; Japan; the Republic of Korea; Lao PDR; Philippines and Thailand. In the years since, Cambodia, Malaysia, Viet Nam, Macao, China; the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea; Singapore; and the United States of America joined the Committee, raising the membership to 14.
The Committee works on reducing the damage caused by typhoons and floods in the region by coordinating the efforts of its members as well as recommending ways to increase community preparedness, improve
meteorological and hydrological facilities. The Committee also promotes the establishment of programmes for training personnel in forecasting typhoons and other disasters.
Following the success of the Typhoon Committee in the Asia-Pacific area, WMO established four similar regional bodies under the global WMO Tropical Cyclone Programme.
With typhoon-related damage accounting for more than half of the economic losses from natural disasters, along with a marked increase in recent extreme weather events, countries in the Asia-Pacific region have agreed at a United Nations meeting to work closely together and coordinate their efforts.
This was one of the major outcomes of the 42nd Session of ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee, convened by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP) in cooperation with the World Meteorological Organization
(WMO) and hosted by the National Environment Agency of Singapore. The five-day meeting closed today in Singapore.
This year’s session focused on the effect of climate change on tropical cyclones in the Typhoon Committee region. Results of an initial assessment show either a decreasing trend or no trend in the annual number of tropical cyclones and typhoons in the Western North Pacific and the South China Sea.
Participants pointed out that climate models project fewer but more intense tropical cyclones in this basin in a warmer climate.
Typhoons continue to cause havoc in many countries of the region. In 2009, 22 tropical cyclones formed over the Western North Pacific and the South China Sea, 13 of which reached typhoon intensity. Three of them – Ketsana, Parma and Morakot – caused severe damage and losses in the Philippines, Cambodia, Viet Nam, and Taiwan, Province of China.
The Committee identified urban flood risk management as a key area for future work, given that high damage caused by tropical cyclones usually happens in populous cities when they bring heavy rainfall. The Committee said it was well-prepared to tackle this issue since its work covers meteorology, hydrology and disaster prevention and mitigation.
The Asia-Pacific region is one of the most vulnerable to natural disasters.
From 1950 to 2005, 54 per cent of worldwide deaths caused by natural disasters – or approximately three million people –occurred in this region.
The wind storms and floods associated with typhoon-related impacts account for 57 per cent – or approximately $33.5 billion – of the economic losses in the region during the same period.
ESCAP, in collaboration with WMO, founded the Typhoon Committee in 1968.
The founding members were: China; Hong Kong, China; Japan; the Republic of Korea; Lao PDR; Philippines and Thailand. In the years since, Cambodia, Malaysia, Viet Nam, Macao, China; the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea; Singapore; and the United States of America joined the Committee, raising the membership to 14.
The Committee works on reducing the damage caused by typhoons and floods in the region by coordinating the efforts of its members as well as recommending ways to increase community preparedness, improve
meteorological and hydrological facilities. The Committee also promotes the establishment of programmes for training personnel in forecasting typhoons and other disasters.
Following the success of the Typhoon Committee in the Asia-Pacific area, WMO established four similar regional bodies under the global WMO Tropical Cyclone Programme.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Least developed countries conclude high-level UN meeting with call for greater say in global financial structures
Climate change also significant issue for Asia-Pacific nations
Fifteen least developed countries (LDCs) meeting at a high-level United Nations forum today concluded their review of a decade’s worth of international assistance efforts with suggestions that such countries be given a greater voice in the international financial structures and extra consideration on climate change concerns.
The proposal came at the High-level Asia-Pacific Policy Dialogue on the Brussels Programme of Action (BPoA) for the Least Developed Countries held in Dhaka , Bangladesh. The meeting was held to assess and develop a unified position for Asia and the Pacific ahead of a global review next year in Turkey on progress made in implementing the BPoA, which seeks “to make substantial progress toward halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty and suffering from hunger by 2015 and promote the sustainable development of the LDCs.”
In the Dhaka Outcome Document, ministers and senior officials agreed that the food-fuel and financial crises, along with climate change, exposed the acute vulnerabilities of the Asia-Pacific LDCs to external shocks which could derail their development gains.
They said LDCs need to be assisted with enabling them to benefit from the opportunities arising from trade, investment and financial flows. LDCs also must be represented on the Financial Stability Board established by the G20 and that the reform of the international financial architecture must ensure greater representation of LDCs in the international financial institutions.
Among other provisions in their statement, the officials noted that LDCs are at the frontline of the effects of climate change and should be given due priority in the provision of resources promised in the Copenhagen climate talks last December.
Noeleen Heyzer, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), said the Dhaka meeting represented a turning point in addressing the development issues and challenges facing the Asia-Pacific region.
“It constitutes a regional position in support of the interests and aspirations of the Asia-Pacific LDCs to build an inclusive and sustainable development part in partnership with their development partners from the region and beyond,” she said.
The three-day meeting discussed issues and concerns related to reducing poverty and hunger by promoting sustainable and inclusive development in the LDCs; promoting food security through sustainable agriculture; and enhancing the share of LDCs in global trade, aid and financial flows and promoting their productive capacity. Talks will also look at protecting the environment and reducing the vulnerability of the LDCs to climate change, and developing human and institutional capacities to support inclusive and sustainable development of the LDCs.
The 14 LDCs in the Asia-Pacific region for the purposes of Brussels review include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Lao PDR, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Yemen , the lone LDC in the Middle East , also participated in the meeting.
Fifteen least developed countries (LDCs) meeting at a high-level United Nations forum today concluded their review of a decade’s worth of international assistance efforts with suggestions that such countries be given a greater voice in the international financial structures and extra consideration on climate change concerns.
The proposal came at the High-level Asia-Pacific Policy Dialogue on the Brussels Programme of Action (BPoA) for the Least Developed Countries held in Dhaka , Bangladesh. The meeting was held to assess and develop a unified position for Asia and the Pacific ahead of a global review next year in Turkey on progress made in implementing the BPoA, which seeks “to make substantial progress toward halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty and suffering from hunger by 2015 and promote the sustainable development of the LDCs.”
In the Dhaka Outcome Document, ministers and senior officials agreed that the food-fuel and financial crises, along with climate change, exposed the acute vulnerabilities of the Asia-Pacific LDCs to external shocks which could derail their development gains.
They said LDCs need to be assisted with enabling them to benefit from the opportunities arising from trade, investment and financial flows. LDCs also must be represented on the Financial Stability Board established by the G20 and that the reform of the international financial architecture must ensure greater representation of LDCs in the international financial institutions.
Among other provisions in their statement, the officials noted that LDCs are at the frontline of the effects of climate change and should be given due priority in the provision of resources promised in the Copenhagen climate talks last December.
Noeleen Heyzer, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), said the Dhaka meeting represented a turning point in addressing the development issues and challenges facing the Asia-Pacific region.
“It constitutes a regional position in support of the interests and aspirations of the Asia-Pacific LDCs to build an inclusive and sustainable development part in partnership with their development partners from the region and beyond,” she said.
The three-day meeting discussed issues and concerns related to reducing poverty and hunger by promoting sustainable and inclusive development in the LDCs; promoting food security through sustainable agriculture; and enhancing the share of LDCs in global trade, aid and financial flows and promoting their productive capacity. Talks will also look at protecting the environment and reducing the vulnerability of the LDCs to climate change, and developing human and institutional capacities to support inclusive and sustainable development of the LDCs.
The 14 LDCs in the Asia-Pacific region for the purposes of Brussels review include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Lao PDR, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Yemen , the lone LDC in the Middle East , also participated in the meeting.
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