2020 October30, Nay Pyi Taw

Asia-Pacific Business Forum (APBF) 2020 in cooperation with the ESCAP Sustainable Business Network (ESBN) and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) was virtually held on 30 October, 2020.

At the forum, Dr. Lee George Lam, Chair of ESBN, Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Under- Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of UNESCAP and Dr. Sansern Samalapa, Vice Minister of Commerce of Royal Government of Thailand made an inaugural address.

During the forum, speakers and participants discussed on the matters relating to the theme topic of “The Future of Global Value Chains and Implications for SMEs” and plenary sessions focused on the efforts to solute the challenges and utilize the opportunities for SMEs, a series of measures to response the COVID-19, implementations to restore global trade and investment links through Global Value Chains and actions to enhance regional trade.

The virtual forum was attended by 52 delegates from governments, business and civil societies. The forum was attended virtually by Director General and Senior Officials from Foreign Economic Relations Department, Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations.