On 10 March 2016, H.E. Mr. Don Pramudwinai, Minister of Foreign Affairs, held a press conference on the outcomes of the 14^th Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) Ministerial Meeting at Siam Kempinski Hotel, Bangkok.

The meeting agreed to draft the ACD Vision for Asia Cooperation 2030 in order to set a clear direction for the regional cooperation in harmony with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals 2030.
The vision would help ACD responds to various regional challenges, such as poverty and socio-economic inequality, food, water, and energy security, and sustainable utilization of the natural resources. The key elements are as follows:

1. Developing the ACD regional connectivity by promoting connectivity in all dimensions: infrastructure, transport, food, energy, telecommunication, and the amendment of rules and regulations to facilitate trade, investment, tourism, and other economic activities, as well as creating opportunities for the Asian people to enjoy inclusive economic growth.

2. Regrouping the ACD areas of cooperation into 6 pillars namely; (i) Connectivity; (ii) Science, Technology and Innovation; (iii) Education and Human Resource Development; (iv) Interrelation of Food, Energy and Water Security; (v) Tourism and Culture; and, (vi) Promoting Approaches to Inclusive and Sustainable Development. The meeting also welcomed Thailand’s initiative to be the lead country in the area of promoting approaches to inclusive and sustainable development.

3. Establishing partnership with the private sector, focusing on expanding network and business matching, as well as engaging with private sector to drive forward ACD cooperation.

Thailand proposed a concept paper on “ACD Connect” emphasizing 6 sectors, including the private sectors that are in the same value chain, taking advantage of collective strengths and common goals of Asia such as food, energy, innovation, connectivity, tourism industries and alternative approaches to inclusive and sustainable development. Each Member State will nominate leading entrepreneurs in each sector to broaden regional business network. The Meeting also agreed to organize a meeting between the private sectors and the ACD leaders during the next ACD Summit in order to recommend policies and set directions for the future ACD cooperation, thus boosting the economic momentum of the ACD.

4. Further promote academic cooperation, by exchange of academic resources, especially teachers, students and researchers, as well as building the ACD university network. The ACD plans to establish a system that enables courses credits of different educational systems to be transferred to facilitate all types of exchange programmes.

5. Further study the proposal to establish Permanent ACD Secretariat to facilitate activities under the six pillars. Kuwait proposed the provisional secretariat be upgraded to the Permanent ACD Secretariat and expressed its readiness to continue its support of the secretariat.

Finally, the meeting expressed its appreciation to Thailand for hosting the meeting and look forward to the 2^nd ACD Summit to be hosted by Thailand at the end of 2016. The Summit will help maintain ACD dynamism, continue cooperation as agreed upon by ACD Ministers, and transform the result of this meeting into tangible policy. This will further elevate ACD into a framework that enhances security, prosperity, and sustainability of our region, and helps realize the Asia Community in the future.