Bangkok, 28 March 2022 – Mr. Karl Kendrick T. Chua, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary of the Philippines and Director-General of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), was elected Chair of the Ninth (9th) Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (9th APFSD), which started today at the United Nations Conference Center in Bangkok and online.

The four-day forum, under the theme “Building back better from COVID-19 while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Asia and the Pacific,” is the regional platform for the in-depth review of the Asia-Pacific’s progress towards achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. The Forum, in particular, will review the region’s work on quality education (SDG 4), gender equality (SDG 5), life below water (SDG 14), life on land (SDG 15), and the partnerships for the goals (SDG 17).

Representatives of Member States, international organizations, civil society, and other stakeholders will also be sharing perspectives on countries’ Voluntary National Reviews (VNR) of their progress on the SDGs. This year, the Philippines will present its third VNR.

The annual APFSD also serves as a regional preparatory meeting to the high-level, global forum on the work towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

For more information on the 9th APFSD, please visit https://www.unescap.org/events/apfsd9. The Forum is broadcast live on ESCAP’s YouTube channel. END