On 17 July 2017, H.E. Mr. Don Pramudwinai, Minister of Foreign Affairs, delivered Thailand’s Country Statement at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), convened under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The statement outlines Thailand’s notable success in reducing the number of those in poverty, addressing hunger and improving health care for all. It also highlights Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP) as Thailand’s home - grown approach to guide the country towards the successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The Foreign Minister shares three key success factors to eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity based on Thailand’s experience; (1) localizing and communitizing SDGs by beginning at the community level; (2) engaging all stakeholders, including by implementing the so-called Pracharat Policy, a platform for public-private-people partnership (3) forging and promoting partnership for Sustainable Development Goals based on Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP for SDGs Partnership), the initiative launched by Thailand during its chairmanship of G-77 in 2016.

Following the conclusion of G-77 chairmanship, Thailand continues to play a role in encouraging implementation of the SDGs at the regional and sub-regional levels, for instance; Thailand supports the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) in re-establishing its regional office in Thailand in order to promote South-South Cooperation in Asia and the Pacific; being the Coordinator of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to promote complementarities between the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the 2030 Agenda; being an active player in Sustainable Development in the Asia Cooperation Dialogue and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA)

HLPF is an annual United Nations conference for member states to review the progress and follow up on their implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The 2017 HLPF is the second meeting since the 2030 Agenda was adopted by member states during the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 in which the Prime Minister of Thailand also attended. The HLPF this year is held under the theme “Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world”. Attending HLPF not only reaffirms our commitment to promote and implement sustainable development, but it also provides an important opportunity for Thailand to exchange, learn and improve international cooperation to bring Thailand and the world to achieve SDGs together.

During the 2017 HLPF, the Minister for Foreign Affairs also held a bilateral talk with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Topics under discussion included the celebration of the 130th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations between Thailand and Japan as well as possible cooperation to promote the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.