Remarks of Resident Coordinator Thailand for ASEAN Seminar on Upholding Multilateralism

It is a pleasure to address you today on this important topic, so let me take the opportunity to

get straight to the point. The challenges facing multilateralism, as well as the absolute urgency

to expand and strengthen our partnerships, have never been more clear.

In our continued resolve in overcoming the pandemic, and building back better for more

inclusive and resilient societies, we see every day how interconnected our societies are. Pull on

one thread, as a public health response or economic stimulus for example, and the entire social

fabric is affected.

We are very aware of the challenges on the horizon, from COVID resilience to long-term

mitigation of climate change, economic growth to development based on sustainability and

equitability. All of these factors are interdependent, and all of them affect the ASEAN

community as a whole.

I want to emphasize a related point that needs more attention. Never has this region, the

international community, and the general public that we represent been more knowledgeable,

more committed and more empowered to take collective action. There is incredible potential if

we choose to work together.

In that context, I want to address the evolving purpose of multilateralism in the ASEAN context.

First, we need to recognize that multilateralism is both increasingly urgent, but also needs to be

shaped by full participation and inclusivity to realize progress towards the Sustainable

Development Goals. The UN has a crucial role, bringing international expertise and technology

to complement ASEAN members’ strengths, and also as a co-convener of the partnerships that

lay the foundations for our future work.

The UN Charter explicitly states the role as “a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations” to

achieve our common ends.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations was founded on the same principles, with the

ASEAN Charter also beginning with the same words “We the Peoples”. That recognition needs

to inform our expansive view of multilateralism that is not limited to Member States, but works

in concert with the private sector and civil society as a whole, both to leave no one behind and

also to leverage the skills, expertise and commitment of all members of society.

The UN-ASEAN Plan of Action has made that model more relevant and effective in its

comprehensive plan for political-security, economic and socio-cultural cooperation based on

peace and security, mutual trust, equality and equity.

Let us be very clear. Any conversation about multilateralism, especially in Asia, must honestly

acknowledge challenges, including geopolitical realities.

Everyone in attendance here today is aware of the headlines. The great power competition

between the United States and China, especially centred in the Asia-Pacific, often dominates

the discussion and affects plans for multilateral action.

That competition, of course, is real, with risks that need to be managed and active engagement

by all sides required to find areas of potential cooperation.

ASEAN and its Members States are perfectly capable of living with these realities and

continuing to do the hard work of forging partnerships and implementing policy based on the

long-terms priorities that are far more inclusive and encompassing.

It is vital that ASEAN continues to contribute to the multilateral system by constantly engaging

all parties and stakeholders in dialogue, including through established intergovernmental

platforms such as the UN.

We must also acknowledge the ongoing crisis in Myanmar, with very real threats of a worsening

spiral of violence and spreading instability. The World Food Programme’s recent warning that

millions of people could face hunger in the next six months is a humanitarian imperative for the

region and beyond.

From human security and wellbeing, deeply interlinked economies and societies, COVID to the

climate crisis, we cannot view these issues as isolated or independent.

SDGs

The international community has laid the foundation in many of these areas, through hard

work, cooperation and compromise. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Paris

Agreement on Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Goals all form pillars of a

comprehensive global plan. Only through multilateralism, and the principle that “together, we

are stronger”, can we build a more resilient and interconnected ASEAN community.

In Thailand, where I serve as UN Resident Coordinator, we have seen decades of progress to

become an upper middle-income country. There are also significant barriers to still be

surmounted, and full realization that COVID has caused major setbacks in crucial areas such as

gender equity and widening inequalities.

UN Agencies have been working with the government to expand and regularize the social

protection system, including for informal workers, while working on policy measures focusing

on vulnerable migrant communities. This is also linked to our work on engagement with private

finance, such as through government pension funds and banks, encouraging the financing of

green and clean economies based on the UN principles for Responsible investment and

banking. This kind of private sector engagement, which can be replicated across the region,

underpins the strategic vision represented in the SDGs.

On the UN’s recent 75th anniversary, the Secretary-General reiterated these points in the

common agenda highlighting 12 commitments. These include leaving no one behind, protecting

our planet, promoting peace and preventing conflict, abiding by international law and ensuring

justice, placing women and girls at the centre, improving digital cooperation, ensuring

sustainable financing, boosting partnerships, and listening to and working with youth.

I want to be crystal clear that these commitments translate into tangible contributions on the

ground. In Thailand, for example, the entire UN system is coordinating work within the

Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, which is informed at every stage by the

National Economic and Social Development Plan.

This is multilateralism in action working towards the SDGs, bringing together complementary

strengths from Government, civil society and the private sector, and the UN system, focused on

three main outcomes: the inclusive, green, low-carbon and sustainable economy; strengthening

human capital; and reducing inequalities.

UN value-add

More effective multilateralism also means listening to our constituencies and partners,

including young people, who made up the largest segment of respondents in Thailand to the

recent global survey launched on the 75th anniversary of the UN. They overwhelmingly favour

working together to deal with development, climate change, and peace and security-related

issues, which are priorities that hold true for all of ASEAN and beyond.

In another recent survey, this one by Edelman Intelligence, almost three-quarters of people

worldwide concluded that the UN has an essential role in tackling the biggest issues we face

today. Just over six in ten, however, believe that the UN has made the world a better place.

This tells me two things. One, we have a lot more work to do, especially informing the public in

all of our countries about the value of multilateralism and the vital role of public participation

and leadership.

Two, we need to do a better job explaining the value-added and comparative advantages that

the UN brings to the table, not as an outside entity, but as the sum of the strengths of Member

States and this amazingly diverse pool of expertise.

Drawing on talent and intellect from around the world, the UN is a provider of comprehensive

policy support and technical assistance to build forward sustainably.

From my own experience with UN Thailand, this has included real-time big-data analytics, for

example in ICT-enabled agriculture in which “smart farmers” receive policy and logistical support

to maximize productivity, market integration and sustainability.

In terms of transboundary development challenges, UN Agencies are bringing cutting-edge

science and technology to tackle some of the region’s most pressing development challenges,

including the chronic air pollution problem that affects much of Southeast Asia, by utilizing

chemical finger printing and satellite imagery.

At every level, the UN work very closely with populations at risk of being left behind to support

and partner with these groups as well as civil society at large.

To inform these efforts, and to enable better policy-making and social support, data and

monitoring efforts and analysis are crucial, from shared maritime issues such as pollution and

fisheries, to the changing population dynamics in the region and the safe and orderly

management of migration, including protecting and promoting the rights of migrant workers.

In all of these efforts, the UN brings value added because of comparative strengths, enabled

precisely because they match and complement the expertise, skills and understanding that are

irreplaceable within each community, country and the ASEAN region as a whole.

Partnerships

The greatest strength that I want to recognize today is the UN’s role as a co-creator with Member

States and all of you in the platforms and partnerships that underpin national and regional

development in parallel with the SDGs.

As the UN Secretary-General has said, our increasing interconnectedness and the complexity of

problems that we face requires a reset in multilateralism for the new era, based on principles of

equity and solidarity. The UN itself needs to evaluate our own performance and adapt to be

more flexible and efficient, becoming more agile in the face of emerging challenges such as

COVID, and most importantly more inclusive to ensure that all Member States as well as the

people they represent have a full voice and stake in policy and outcomes.

ASEAN and Member States have a crucial leadership role. As an important partner and through

the implementation of the UN-ASEAN Plan of Action, we will continue to work together on the

many complex, interrelated issues that affect us all to advance the ASEAN Community Vision

2025 and 2030 Agenda.

That global leadership role is especially apparent in South-South and Triangular Cooperation for

advancing the SDGs through transfer of technical knowledge and adaptation of scalable

development solutions. One example that is particularly close to my heart is the collaboration

between the UN and two ASEAN countries to accelerate the achievement of SDG 3 on Good

Health and Well-being, focusing on reduced maternal deaths. As an example, support for the

training and education of midwives in Lao PDR has been led by the Thailand International

Cooperation Agency, in which the social returns to investment have been shown to be fourfold

in terms of impact on the effectiveness of trained midwives, and could be more for the target

population. These types of cooperation and targeted investment have potential that we are just

beginning to realize.

As I close, let me draw attention to another necessary aspect of multilateralism today. The

SDGs cannot be achieved without international consensus on a scale we have never seen

before, and policy-making at the national level that is both innovative and bold.

Yet at the same time, the buy-in and commitment from our respective constituencies, the

people who make up our diverse societies, is the foundation of progress and transformational

change.

That commitment is there. In the Secretary-General’s words, we are seeing an overwhelming

public appetite around the world for more, and more effective, international cooperation.

Women and young people in particular have made that case. There is a genuine sense of hope

in the air.

That is our mandate, shared by the UN and every Member State. I look forward to working with

you all to achieve it. Thank you.