The 2015 UN Summit adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which is informally known as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to guide global development cooperation through 2030. The SDGs replaced the MDGs starting in 2016, and the scale and scope of the SDGs are unprecedented, with 17 goals and 169 targets. Insomuch as the SDGs are massive in scale and scope, they require preparations for effective implementation, and such preparations are necessary at both national and regional levels. Regional cooperation for the SDGs can also help prevent one country’s achievement of SDGs from hindering other countries’ achievement of SDGs. It can facilitate the mutual achievement of SDGs in the region as well.
This session, titled ‘SDGs and East Asia,’ will discuss what SDGs mean to East Asian countries and identify specific SDGs that call for regional cooperation and cooperative measures to generate intended outcomes. This session will seek regional cooperation that will ensure broad agreement and complementary support through discussions and exchanges of expert views from Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia, which can be identified as advanced and middle-income countries.