Overview

The North-East Asian subregion as a group is ahead of other subregions in Asia and the Pacific in achieving many of the SDGs in terms of population living in poverty, unemployment rates, enrolment ratio for secondary education, access to basic services, and strong public institutions. Yet, within the subregion and within each country there are many pockets of areas or population that are still left behind.  

The North-East Asia Multistakeholder Forum on Sustainable Development Goals is a part of the preparatory process for the 6^th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) in 2019, which itself is one of the regional consultations towards High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) 2019. Thus, in line with the theme and focus of these Forums, the discussion in the North-East Asian Forum will place a special focus on 6 SDG Goals under the overall theme “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”. The selected SDGs for review are quality education (Goal 4), decent work and economic growth (Goal 8), reduced inequalities (Goal 10), climate action (Goal 13), and peace and justice (Goal 16) as well as the means of implementation and partnership (Goal 17).

The Forum will bring together and connect key stakeholders from government, academia, civil society, the private sector, and international community in the North-East Asia, and discuss national and subregional perspective in people’s empowerment, inclusiveness and equality in achieving SDGs with particular focus on the selected goals (4, 8, 10, 13, 16), as well as assisting other countries to achieve SDGs (goal 17).