General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, attended several side-events during the 70^th Session of the United Nations General Assembly from 24 – 29 September 2014 in New York, United States of America.

          The invitation to the Prime Minister for each event demonstrated the recognition by the international community of the on-going efforts of Thailand in achieving sustainable development, as well as the commitment and effort to realize the sustainable development goals (SDGs) recently adopted by the Leaders at the United Nations Development Summit.
          These parallel high-level events build upon the Prime Minister statement at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit 2015, where he reiterated that the Philosophy of Sufficiency has helped Thailand achieve nearly all the MDGs. Moreover, the Prime Minister underscored that inequality is the root cause of the many problems, such as poverty, violence, and conflict. To address these problems, the Prime Minister reiterated the importance of effective law, measures to empower the vulnerables, an environment that enables development, and reducing inequality through international efforts and partnership.

The gist of prime minister’s statement at each side-events are as follows;

1. Interactive Dialogue: “Ending poverty and hunger”, 25 September 2015

      Prime Minister stated that the Royal Thai Government’s policy towards ending poverty and hunger is to create opportunities for all people to be able to enjoy equal access to education, health care, social welfare, and legal protection. Inspired by His Majesty the King’s Sufficiency Economy Philosophy, the Government advocates people-centered development, strengthening low-income people and local entrepreneurs to spur economic growth to remote rural areas and make them self-reliant. The Sufficiency Economy Philosophy also instills the people with a sense of moderation to balance pursuit of materialism with social responsibility, in turn promoting sustainable growth with the capability of resilience. The Thai government follows the Sufficiency Economy path to bring about the society and the world, in which no one is left behind and for our succeeding generation to enjoy the sustained stability and prosperity.

2. Celebratory Gala Dinner of the 150 Year Anniversary of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the acceptance of ITU Global Sustainable Digital Development Award, 26 September 2015

Since joining the ITU in 1883, Thailand has always realized the importance of utilizing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for sustainable development. In 1992, the ITU selected Thailand as a host country for the regional office for Asia and the Pacific, which allowed Thailand to serve as a base to expand ITU support and assistance to the member states in the region. At end of the century, ICT has become an important part in people’s live and national development and acted as an enabling factor in achieving economic growth and sustainable development. Thailand is currently implementing ICT policies that will increase competitiveness while maintain responsibility to the society to transform Thailand into digital economy and society. To this end, Thailand is committed to the global efforts to build information society and to help realize the goal of sustainable development for a better livelihood of the people.

3. Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: A Commitment to Action, 27 September 2015

     Under the invitation of the President of the People’s Republic of China, the Prime Minister attended the event and delivered remarks that focus on Thailand commitment in promoting women empowerment. Having achieved the Millennium Development Goals on gender equality, the Thai government will continue to address the remaining challenges to ensure the women’s dignity and right in society and the country’s development. The Thai Government has implemented an ‘Education for All’ policy and continuously improved legislation to promote women’s rights, protect women from violence, and rehabilitate victims of human trafficking, who are mostly women and children. Recently, Thailand promulgated the 2015 Gender Equality Act, which became effective on 9 September 2015, to protect everyone from gender-based discrimination.

4. High-level special event “Catalysing Implementation and Achievement of the Water Related SDGs”, 27 September 2015

As a member of the steering committee of the Friend of Water, The Prime Minister was invited by the President of Tajikistan to attend the event. In his remarks, the Prime Minister acknowledged the importance of a holistic approach to sustainable water management, Thailand has applied the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy and implemented royal initiatives on water management to create a balance between socio-economic development, living conditions, and environmental protection. The 12 years Water Resources Management Strategy was adopted and focuses on an integrated approached in water resources management at 3 levels, namely (1) water sources management through conservation and restoration of upstream forest (2) effective water usage through providing clean water access to over 7,000 villages by 2017 and (3) waste water management through reduction of waste water and increasing the efficiency of water treatment system. The government will also reduce the risk from water-related disaster through development of water reservoirs and creating community resilience to water-related disasters.

5. The Path towards Universal Health Coverage : Promotion of equitable global health and human security in the post-2015 development era, 28 September 2015

The Prime Minister was invited by the Prime Minister of Japan to deliver remarks along with eminent persons in the field of healthcare, including the Director of the World Health Organization. Since the Royal Thai Government achieved universal health coverage for all in 2002, Thailand remains committed to ensuring equitable access and quality for all Thais, as well as registered immigrants. Thailand intends to serve as a hub for creating quality healthcare workforce for the ASEAN Community. Thailand, along with Japan, ROK, and China, also established the ASEAN Plus Three UHC Network, which would help promote the role of Thailand as a centre for training and managing UHC and healthcare in the region.