ML Suparat Devakula, Special Envoy of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand, shared Thailand’s vision towards sustainable and resilient societies at the General Debate of the ECOSOC Ministerial Meeting during the 2018 High-level political forum on sustainable development (HLPF) on 17 July 2018, United Nations Headquarters, New York.

          In her statement, the Special Envoy reiterated Thailand’s commitments in building sustainable and resilient societies which forms important basis towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. To realise this objective, the Royal Thai Government is currently undertaking three key measures, namely, localising SDGs, strengthening their means of implementation and promoting inclusive partnership and multi-stakeholder engagement. Progress made as a result of these measures are reported in a brief Thailand’s “Voluntary National Review (VNR)” in 2018.

          The Special Envoy also conveyed sincere appreciation and deepest gratitude on behalf of the Thai Government and the Thai people to friends of Thailand from around the world who have kindly offered a helpful hand, as well as the well wishes and words of encouragement during the mission to rescue Thai soccer team “Wild Boar” from a flooded cave in Chiang Rai Province. This successful operation reflects the importance of the spirit of international cooperation, the need for capacity building and the resilience of local communities as well as the important role of science, technology and innovation.

          Other country representatives also reiterated their countries’ commitments and showcased progress made as well as challenges that remain towards achieving the SDGs. The 2018 High-level Political Forum received overwhelming interests from many Member States of the UN, international organisations, civil societies, youth delegates, private sector and academia. This year, 47 countries have presented their VNRs, including Australia, Switzerland, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Viet Nam, Lao PDR, and Singapore. Thailand has officially presented its first VNR at the HLPF last year. This year, Thailand has come up with a brief updated report to reflect progress that has been recently achieved in the implementation of SDGs.

          The High-Level Political Forum is convened annually under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to follow-up and review progress of SDGs implementation through presentation of VNRs by UN Member States and in-depth discussions of SDGs. Next year will be the first time that the HLPF be convened at the head-of-government level under the auspices of the United Nations General Assembly in September.