On 22 November 2022, Mr. Cherdchai Chaivaivid, Director-General of the Department of International Economic Affairs and Thailand APEC Senior Official, briefed members of the diplomatic corps and international organizations on the substantive outcomes of APEC 2022 Thailand and the “Bangkok Goals on Bio-Circular-Green Economy”, APEC’s first comprehensive framework to advance APEC’s sustainability agenda in a bold, transformative, balanced and ambitious manner. Over 80 representatives from diplomatic missions and international organizations in Bangkok attended this briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Under the theme “Open. Connect. Balance.”, Thailand has hosted over APEC 100 meetings throughout 2022, including working group-level and committee-level meetings, 4 clusters of APEC Senior Official Meetings and 8 sectoral Ministerial Meetings on Trade, Tourism, Forestry, Health, Food Security, Women, SMEs and Finance, as well as the 33rd APEC Ministerial Meeting and the 29th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting.

Thailand, as 2022 Host Economy, successfully achieved 3 key deliverables as planned, including:

(1) The FTAAP Agenda Work Plan 2023 – 2026 to take forward the refreshed conversation on the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) in the post-COVID context, to help build capacities of economies to better prepare for next generation trade issues;
(2) The Safe Passage Taskforce’s recommendations on how APEC’s safe passage work should be carried forward to continue building resilience in the region’s travel infrastructure against future disruptions, and;
(3) The adoption of the Bangkok Goals on BCG Economy, as APEC’s first comprehensive goals on sustainability and inclusivity agendas, which focus on 4 key areas including climate change mitigation, sustainable trade and investment, environmental conservation and waste management. The Bangkok Goals website was launched upon adoption and can be accessed at www.bangkokgoals.apec.org.

During the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week, APEC Ministers adopted the 2022 Joint Ministerial Statement and APEC Economic Leaders adopted, by consensus, two important outcome documents, namely the 2022 APEC Leaders’ Declaration and the Bangkok Goals on BCG Economy Model. These outcomes illustrate APEC’s commitment to the sustainable agenda and its ability to openly discuss, incubate ideas and find solutions to effectively address pressing economic challenges facing the region.