Doha: Thailand is calling for a concerted effort to move pan-Asian cooperation forward, said Foreign Affairs Minister Don Pramudwinai at the 16th Ministerial Meeting of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue, which was held on Wednesday in the Qatari capital.
As the current chair of the ACD, Qatar hosted the meeting under the theme "Partners in Progress".
Delegations from almost all ACD member states, including China, India, Japan, and Saudi Arabia, attended the conference.
"We [Thailand] are determined and committed to see this cooperation framework -- the only pan-Asian cooperation and largest gathering in Asia encompassing all five sub-regions, namely East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Middle East and Eurasia -- flourish and attain tangible goals set forth in the ACD Vision 2030," he said.
"The ACD has thus far neither advanced quickly enough, nor made enough significant progress to make its presence noticeable in today's fast-evolving international order. Unless we promptly take action in a tangible manner, we might well miss the great opportunities in the 'Asia Century'," Mr Don said.
To promote greater awareness and visibility of the ACD, both at the regional and at the global level, Mr Don urged member states to be more focussed, and draw strength from their diversity.
"As Thailand is currently chairing Asean, and will assume the chair of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) in 2022, we would like to highlight the importance of sustainability and its main components, which include the 5 Ps, namely: people, partnerships, peace, prosperity, and the planet," he said.
"We have to form sustainable partnerships, as there is no single policy approach that can be completely successful on its own," he added.
Mr Don's message was echoed by ministers from fellow Asean members Indonesia and Malaysia. He met with Indonesia's foreign minister Retno Marsudi and Malaysia's Dato Saifuddin bin Abdullah on Tuesday to discuss ways to promote cooperation under the ACD framework.
The ACD was launched in 2002 as a regional policy discussion platform, which is aimed at fostering mutual trust, and inclusive cooperation among its members.