SWAPP has been invited to the 5^th Regional Roundtable on MDGs to be held on March 24-25, 2008 in Bangkok.  Ms. Lizette Cardenas, Executive Director, will be representing SWAPP in this auspicious event.

SWAPP has been invited to the 5^th Regional Roundtable on MDGs to be held on March 24-25, 2008 in Bangkok.  Ms. Lizette Cardenas, Executive Director, will be representing SWAPP in this auspicious event.

The Bangkok Roundtable on MDGs is being convened jointly by the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), the NGO Section (DESA), the United Nations Institute on Research and Training (UNITAR) and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

 At the 2008 Bangkok Roundtable, four of the eight Millennium Development Goals: eradication of the extreme poverty, promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women, ensuring environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development.  The last one echoes the 2008 theme of the UN Annual Ministerial Review (AMR): “ Implementing the internationally agreed Goals and commitments in regard to sustainable development”.  

 The Bangkok Roundtable will enable the representatives of ASEAN National and Economic Councils, NGOs, universities and UN and national officials of the region to take stock of the activities for the outreach and promotion of the MDGs and consider the challenges South East Asian countries face in achieving the MDGs on or before 2015. 

The aim is to ensure that these fundamental Goals will move beyond simple good will declarations to become a genuine Charter for the right to human development, leading to concrete actions in the region.

Four successive Roundtables of experts were held since 2005: for Europe, in Paris on 24 October 2005; for Africa in Algiers on 26 November 2005; for Latin America, in Brasilia on 17-18 January 2006; and for Asia in Beijing on 16 March 2006.  These Roundtables undertook a timely evaluation on the degree of awareness and on MDG progress in these regions.