On 30 May 2022, H.E. Mr. Don Pramudwinai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, together with Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Under-Secretary-General of the UN and Executive Secretary of ESCAP, co-chaired the 6th High-Level Brainstorming Dialogue on Enhancing Complementarities between the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (HLBD) at the UN Conference Centre in Bangkok and via videoconference.

This forum aims to promote regional cooperation in enhancing synergies between ASEAN Community-building and the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda, or the so-called “Complementarities Initiative”.

In his opening remarks, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister put forth the following ideas as ways forward for the Complementarities Initiative: (1) promoting the synergies and alignment of the Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy Model with ASEAN’s and external partner’s development policies through exchanges of best practices, transfers of technological and scientific resources; (2) mainstreaming sustainable development and sustainability into ASEAN’s Cooperation with external partners in support of the implementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific; (3) increasing youth empowerment and engagement through creating an ideation space for youths to showcase their ideas and enhance their capacity on sustainability issues; and (4) fostering a peaceful environment and enhancing partnerships among all key stakeholders to ensure human security of the people, global peace and prosperity, as well as sustainability of the planet.

The Meeting reviewed the progress made and discussed ways to advance the Complementarities Initiative based on the 5 priority areas of cooperation under the Complementarities Roadmap (2020-2025), namely, poverty eradication, infrastructure and connectivity, sustainable management of natural resources, sustainable consumption and production, and resilience. The Meeting also highlighted that sustainable development and the Complementarities Initiative can contribute to post-COVID-19 recovery and enhance regional resilience to future disruptions.

The HLBD is an annual meeting, having been co-hosted by Thailand, as the ASEAN Coordinator on Sustainable Development Cooperation, and UN ESCAP since 2017. Among concrete initiatives under the HLBD are the Complementarities Roadmap and the establishment of the ASEAN Centre for Sustainable Development Studies and Dialogue (ACSDSD) in Bangkok which has provided institutional support for the coordination of the implementation of the Roadmap. Participants at the 6th HLBD included the Secretary-General of ASEAN as well as high-level representatives from ASEAN Member States, UN agencies, and ASEAN’s external partners, including China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Italy, France, Germany, the OECD, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Asia Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.