On 31 March 2017, H.E. Mr. Don Pramudwinai, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand, and Dr. ShamshadAkhtar, Executive Secretary of the UN ESCAP, will co-chair the High-Level Brainstorming Dialogue (HLBD) on Enhancing Complementarities between the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the United Nations Conference Centre, Bangkok. 

          The HLBD, which will be held back-to-back with the Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development, aims to identify priority cross-cutting areas that support the synergy the ASEAN Vision 2025 and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

          The meeting will be a platform for participants to brainstorm and find possible effective and feasible approaches to enhance the ‘Complementarities Initiative,’ as well as exchange views on possible concrete project ideas and proposals that could turn vision into reality. Key partners such as UNDP, UN Women and the World Bank will present their project proposals to collaborate with ASEAN in order to strengthen both the Community-building process and the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

          The HLBD will be attended by high-level participants from ASEAN Member States that are directly involved with the implementation of the SDGs. Moreover, Ms. Victoria Kwakwa, Vice President of the World Bank for East Asia and the Pacific, will attend the HLBD on her first trip to the region after having assumed her position as Vice President. Her participation underlines the importance the World Bank attaches to the HLBD, ASEAN and Thailand. In addition, Germany as ASEAN’s Development Partner and current Chair of G20, will also be present as guest of the Co-Chair. 

          Thailand acts as the ASEAN coordinator in promoting complementarities between the ASEAN Community Vision and the Sustainable Development Goals as tasked by the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Vientiane last February. Furthermore, at the Special Session of the ASEAN Foreign Minister’s Meeting focusing on Sustainable Development in September 2016, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers agreed to Thailand’s proposal to convene a High-Level Brainstorming Dialogue on the Complementarities Initiative.