The headquarters of ‘Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)’ is located at Bangkok. It is one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations Economic and Social Council under the administrative direction of the United Nations headquarters. It was established in 1947 (then as the UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East, ECAFE) to encourage economic cooperation among its member states. The name was changed to the current one in 1974.