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

2-4 December 2025

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA)

The Forum will be held in Conference Room 4 at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand.

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has been providing a platform to facilitate South-South and triangular cooperation among and with Asia-Pacific member States to advance sustainable development. As a United Nations Regional Commission, South-South and triangular cooperation has been the linchpin shaping ESCAP’s technical assistance programmes, informed its research and analysis, and underpinned its intergovernmental, normative and consensus building work.

The centrepiece 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 to share experiences, good practices, and to provide a venue for facilitating strategic exchanges and capacity development on issues related to development cooperation matters, with a specific focus on South-South and triangular cooperation.

Each DG Forum is organized around a theme to be able to delve into an area affirmed as a development priority by the ESCAP member States. In line with the upcoming 82^nd session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the 7^th Asia-Pacific DG Forum will focus on the theme “Harnessing South-South Cooperation for Inclusive Societies in Asia and the Pacific”, showcasing social inclusiveness best practices, research advances, and solutions, presenting concrete examples that could be expanded and replicated in other countries.

The meeting aims for Directors General of technical cooperation agencies to interact with peers, regional policymakers, development partners and other key stakeholders in order to:

1. Discuss challenges and opportunities for advancing South-South cooperation to promote inclusive development in Asia and the Pacific.
2. Promote replicable and scalable solutions that address multidimensional aspects of inclusion through South-South and triangular cooperation.
3. Showcase innovative development practices and technologies that contribute to inclusive and sustainable development.
4. Facilitate in-person networking and bilateral meetings to identify partnership opportunities among governments, technical cooperation agencies, and development actors aimed at enhancing South-South cooperation.