Ministry of Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary
Sihasak Phuangketkeow (left) says said Thailand’s priorities are poverty
eradication, social inequality, disaster-risk reduction and preparedness, and
better access to universal health care.
Urasin Khantaraphan
Sixty-two nations meeting in Pattaya have an “unfinished agenda”
covering poverty, health care and disaster prevention, a top Ministry of Foreign
Affairs official told the Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development.
Ministry Permanent Secretary Sihasak Phuangketkeow opened the May 19-21 meeting
at the Royal Cliff Grand Hotel in Pattaya, telling the more than 200 attendees
that the needs of developing nations remain the forum’s most-important priority.
In his opening statement, Sihasak said Thailand’s priorities are poverty
eradication, social inequality, disaster-risk reduction and preparedness, and
better access to universal health care.
Stressing the importance of developing countries on the group’s Post-2015
Development Agenda, the permanent secretary urged forum members to place special
focus on the needs and interests of developing landlocked and island countries.
Regional cooperation is vital to the global efforts to formulate a Post-2015
Development Agenda, he said. Sihasak announced that Association of Southeast
Asian Nations member states are working toward the ASEAN Community’s Post-2015
vision, which could include a possibility of so-called ASEAN Development Goals.
These goals would reflect the aspiration of being a people-centric ASEAN and
provide an impetus to the realization of the agreed goals at the international
level.
The forum, organized by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the
Pacific was originally scheduled to be held at the United Nations Conference
Center in Bangkok, but was moved to Pattaya due to continued political unrest in
the capital.
