Consulate General of Sri Lanka, Toronto

The Seventh Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) held on 20th May in Bangkok-Thailand, was convened as a virtual meeting for the first time, complying with the ‘new normal’  in the COVID 19 context, and Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), H.E. (Mrs.) Samantha K. Jayasuriya, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Thailand, was elected by acclamation as the Chair of 7th APFSD and will serve for a period of one year.

The 7th  APFSD was held under the theme ‘Accelerating action for and delivery of the 2030 Agenda in Asia and the Pacific’. Recalling that the UN has declared a ‘Decade of Action’ in realizing the 2030 Agenda, Ambassador Jayasuriya, addressing the Opening Session underscored the importance of multi-stakeholder partnerships and well coordinated response at national, and regional levels, including with all institutions and all members of society, as well as from the multilateral cooperation framework, in moving forward.

Joining the Opening Session online from New York was the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed, and the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, and H.E. Mr. Don Pramudwinai, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Thailand, also addressed the Session. The speakers highlighted the need to change the challenges posed by COVID-19 crisis into new opportunities. They suggested on enhanced investments in social protection and health care, developing economic models aiming at green jobs, leveraging on innovations to advance technology based solutions while bridging the digital divide and enhancing scientific cooperation in the Asia Pacific Region etc.