The Economic & Social Commission for Asia & the Pacific (ESCAP) of the United Nations has said that growth in the Asia-Pacific region will be conditioned by the aftermath of Iraq war, impact of severely acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and growth in the US, Japan and the EU. ESCAP 2003 was presented by Nagesh Kumar, director-general of the Research & Information System for the non-aligned & other developing countries. It has pegged growth in developing countries in the Asia-Pacific at 5 per cent for calender year 2003