As the Vice President of the UN’s business network for the Asia Pacific, how do you engage business in helping to achieve the 2030 Global Goals?

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We have to work together, because governments alone can’t solve the world’s social, environmental and developmental challenges.  As leaders of any successful organisation know, only partnerships can help us tackle complex problems, so we welcome business leaders who are stepping up to join government and non-government organisations in attacking the great challenges of our generation such as inclusive and sustainable development.

I convened a conference of business and government leaders committed to investment and innovation in sustainable development at the Asia Pacific Business Forum. 
 

This is the flagship business event of the United Nations in the Asia Pacific, delivered as part of the ongoing work of the Sustainable Business Network of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. We are advocating for an Asia Pacific Green Deal.

The world’s leaders agreed on the 17 Global Goals in 2015, following the remarkable progress in reducing world poverty in recent decades.  Of course most of the progress was a result of East Asia investing in education, infrastructure and opening markets for investment and trade. But we are entering a new period of uncertainty, with a lack of confidence in some of the large, developed economies and unease about the shift of economic power to Asia.  This is not just about economics, but about how we engage, learn to understand each other and subsequently find ways to work together to achieve our shared goals.