On 27 March 2019 Mr. Thani Thongphakdi, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand, represented H.E. Mr. Don Pramudwinai, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand, at the Opening Session of the 6th Asia–Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) under the theme “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”.

 

The Deputy Permanent Secretary began his statement by mentioning the socio-economic transformation in the Asia-Pacific region that lowered the level of poverty in the last decades. Yet despite these developments, inequality persists and is on the rise. The Royal Thai Government has adopted a wide range of measures to address the issue of inequality, i.e. empowering people and communities, enhancing public-private-people partnership, and creating an ecosystem for sharing. Moreover, Thailand is chairing ASEAN under the theme “Advancing Partnership for Sustainability”, while continuing support to the South-South and triangular cooperation. In this regard, an ASEAN Centre for Sustainable Development Studies and Dialogue and the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Regional Centre for Sufficiency Economy Philosophy for Sustainability (SEAMEO SEP) will be established.

 

APFSD 2019 is a multi-stakeholder forum and was attended by high-level government representatives, top UN officers including Mrs. Amina J. Mohammedm, Deputy United Nations Secretary-General, and representatives from private sector, academia and CSOs. The outcome of the forum will feed into the High-level Political Forum (HLPF), which will be convened twice this year at the ministerial level under at the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and at the leaders level at the UNGA (SDGs Summit).

 

The opening statement can be viewed at http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/news3/9036/101433