Sixth Asia-Pacific Directors General Forum for South-South and Triangular Cooperation

The Forum will be held in Conference Room 3 at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand. Remote participation will be possible via Microsoft Teams only for selected parts.

Participating entities are invited to bring exhibition materials to showcase any projects linked with the theme of the Forum. If you intend to bring exhibition materials, please contact ESCAP (escap-ssc@un.org with copy to dispert@un.org and samngamnoi@un.org) at your earliest convenience and no later than Monday, 18 November 2024. 

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has been providing a regional platform to facilitate South-South and triangular cooperation among its 62 member States and associate members and address development challenges and harness opportunities. Historically, ESCAP’s South-South and triangular cooperation activities helped shape its technical assistance programmes, informed its research and analysis, and underpinned its intergovernmental and consensus building work.

One of the centrepieces of ESCAP’s South-South and triangular cooperation work is its Asia-Pacific Directors General Forum for South-South and Triangular Cooperation (Asia-Pacific DG Forum). Every year, the Forum brings together the heads of development cooperation and South-South cooperation agencies and units of ESCAP member States to share experiences, good practices, and provide a venue for facilitating collaboration on issues related to South-South and triangular cooperation. 

In preparation for the upcoming 81st session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific scheduled to take place in April 2025, and in alignment with its theme topic of “Resilient and sustainable urbanization”, the 6th DG Forum will focus on showcasing best practices, research advances, and solutions, presenting concrete examples that could be expanded and replicated in other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, paving the way for inclusive growth, sustainable development, and South-South cooperation. 

This year’s DG Forum will be preceded by two associated events on brainstorming for the next Emerging Development Partners meeting and a seminar on the measurement of South-South Cooperation on Monday, 25 November. 

The objectives of the meeting are for Directors Generals of technical cooperation agencies, regional policymakers, development partners and other key stakeholders to:

(i) discuss challenges and opportunities for advancing South-South cooperation, especially for emerging technical assistance providers with a focus on the theme of resilient and sustainable urbanization;

(ii) promote replicable urban development solutions through South-South cooperation;

(iii) showcase recent innovative development solutions and best practices through an exhibition; and

(iv) engage in in-person networking sessions and bilateral meetings to identify opportunities for partnership with diverse technical cooperation agencies to enhance sustainable development.

The objective of the exhibition is to provide an informal space for technical cooperation agencies and development partners to share good practices and technical cooperation approaches for accelerated implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development within an exhibition booth. The exhibition provides an opportunity to

·         Network and strengthen partnerships with other DG Forum participants and stakeholders;

·         Discover innovative solutions and best practices in South-South and triangular cooperation; and

·         Engage in active discussions.

The exhibition will be officially launced on Wednesday, 27 November at 16:30 hours, followed by a reception at the United Nations Conference Centre.

Delegations wishing to display materials in the exhibition space are kindly requested to inform the organizers by Monday, 18 November through submission of a completed exhibition request form.