ADB's Southeast Asia Development Symposium (SEADS 2022): Sustainable Solutions for Southeast Asia’s Recovery 16 to 17 March 2022 Highlights The pandemic has had a deep and profound impact throughout Southeast Asia. Many of the region’s hard-won gains in reducing poverty, creating jobs, and enhancing health and well-being have been reversed, with the poor and vulnerable particularly hard-hit. While countries continue to grapple with the severe economic, health, and social impacts of the pandemic, vaccine rollouts, the promise of new treatments, substantial economic relief, and targeted social support are helping to make inroads. Green shoots of recovery are starting to appear, and Southeast Asian nations are now laying the groundwork for reopening and more enduring recovery. The Southeast Asia Development Symposium (SEADS) 2022, “Sustainable Solutions for Southeast Asia’s Recovery,” took place on 16–17 March and focused on (i) green recovery, (ii) tourism revitalization, (iii) the advancement of innovation and technology, (iv) addressing supply chain constraints; (v) advancing gender equality; and (vi) ensuring Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) financing. ADB established SEADS to convene leaders from government, industry, academia, and the development sector to help crystallize thinking on critical development issues, and to put forward innovative ideas that can help countries make their economies more prosperous, knowledge-based, and sustainable. The first two SEADS took place amidst the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and accordingly focused on helping Southeast Asian countries counter the immediate impacts of COVID-19. It is hoped that SEADS can contribute to dialogue at the 2022 ASEAN Finance Ministers’ Meeting, ADB Annual Meeting, and G20 Summit (being hosted by Indonesia). Program and Learning Materials 16 March 2022 17 March 2022 Session / Activity Title Speaker(s) Opening Plenary: Building Back Better Welcoming Remarks Ramesh Subramaniam, Director General, Southeast Asia Department, ADB Opening Plenary: Building Back Better Opening Keynote Southeast Asia needs to ensure its recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic will be both inclusive and sustainable, said Asian Development Bank… Masatsugu Asakawa Opening Plenary: Building Back Better Keynote Southeast Asian countries must brace for headwinds including the longer-term risks of future pandemics and climate change, supply chain disruptions,… Indranee Thurai Rajah Opening Plenary: Building Back Better Keynote From becoming the first major company to become carbon neutral to having the cleanest cloud in the industry, Google has always worked hard to take… Kate Brandt SEADS 2022 Opening Plenary Panel Building Back Better through Inclusive Solutions With COVID-19 hurting the most vulnerable in Southeast Asia, countries need to focus on solutions that would create opportunities and bolster well… SEADS 2022 Scene Setting Keynote Speaker Southeast Asia Rising from the Pandemic Report Launch and Fireside Chat Two years since COVID-19 hit, economies across Southeast Asia are showing signs of recovery, although growth remains fragile, according to the Asian… SEADS 2022 Sessions Women Driving Sustainable Transformation in ASEAN Across Southeast Asia, female leaders from different fields are driving the region’s sustainable transition through policymaking and the creation of… SEADS 2022 Sessions Accelerating Climate Finance for Green Recovery Southeast Asia needs to design and develop more bankable projects in order to mobilize private capital to finance its climate ambitions, said experts… SEADS 2022 Sessions Enhancing ASEAN's Participation in the Global and Regional Value Chains ASEAN has been an important player in the global value chains (GVCs) and global production networks for decades. In this session, experts at the… SEADS 2022 Sessions Policies and Practices to Foster Sustainable Tourism after COVID-19 The COVID-19 pandemic has reversed decades of robust tourism growth in Southeast Asia, causing widespread business closures and millions of job… Steven Schipani, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Chompan Kulnides, Montira Horayangura Unakul, Susanne Becken SEADS 2022 Sessions Building a More Sustainable and Resilient World with Innovation Technology is key to accelerating Asia’s progress toward a greener and more resilient future, said experts at the Asian Development Bank's (ADB)… SEADS 2022 Sessions Digital Acceleration: Today’s Opportunities for Tomorrow’s Sustainability COVID-19 has fast-tracked digitalization across many spheres of society, sectors, and markets. In this session during the Asian Development Bank's … SEADS 2022 Sessions Unlocking Finance for the SDGs: Rising to the Challenge to Build Back Better Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) presents a major financing challenge made even more daunting by the setback and fiscal stresses… SEADS 2022 Sessions Knowledge Management and Innovation in Action: Transforming Policy Making for SE Asia Spawned by advancements in technologies in the last 2 decades, a plethora of information and content has led to the public sector struggling to make… Session / Activity Title Speaker(s) Plenary: Revitalizing Tourism and Ensuring Cities’ Sustainable Future Welcoming Remarks F. Cleo Kawawaki, Head, Office of Public–Private Partnership, ADB Plenary: Revitalizing Tourism and Ensuring Cities’ Sustainable Future Keynote Thanks to the pandemic, the Philippines is now rethinking "tourism for the future," said Philippine Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat at the… Bernadette Romulo-Puyat Plenary: Revitalizing Tourism and Ensuring Cities’ Sustainable Future Keynote Since the pandemic started, Tokyo has been accelerating measures so it does not return to life before COVID-19 but instead be able “to realize a city… Yuriko Koike Plenary: Revitalizing Tourism and Ensuring Cities’ Sustainable Future Keynote The pandemic has transformed many of the world's cities into hot spots, reversed many socio-economic achievements, and devastated labor markets,… Maimunah Mohd Sharif Plenary: Revitalizing Tourism and Ensuring Cities’ Sustainable Future Keynote Since the pandemic, Asia has gone beyond just digital transformation, with the region clearly moving and with urgency toward digital acceleration,… Andrea Della Mattea Plenary Panel Driving an Inclusive Tourism Recovery in Southeast Asia Southeast Asian countries should seize the opportunity presented by the pandemic to rebuild tourism so it is more sustainable, inclusive, and less… Closing Panel Discussion The Future of Sustainable Cities The COVID-19 pandemic has given Southeast Asia the opportunity to reimagine its cities and make them more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable, said… COVID-19 Vaccine Development and Challenges Update COVID-19 Vaccine Development and Challenges Update To prepare for more pandemics in the future, countries should continue surveillance efforts, boost vaccine research and development and manufacturing… Sungsup Ra Partner Deep-Dive Workshops Youth in Action: Driving Solutions for Sustainable Tourism This session was part of the larger Southeast Asia Development Symposium (SEADS), ADB's preeminent development policy forum for the Southeast… Partner Deep-Dive Workshops Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership: A New Paradigm in Asia’s Trading Architecture (ADB) As Asia embarks on its path of economic recovery in 2022, it gets a boost in regional cooperation as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership … Partner Deep-Dive Workshops Build to Last—Shaping MSMEs’ Growth in the Digital Age With micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Southeast Asia contributing about 40% on average to each country's gross domestic product,… Partner Deep-Dive Workshops Enabling Empowered Women for Asia’s Sustainable Recovery In this session at the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) third Southeast Asia Development Symposium (SEADS), women leaders offered perspectives on the… Partner Deep-Dive Workshops Destination Success: 7 Tools for Tourism Resilience & Sustainability (Pacific- Asia Travel Association) The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) believes resilience is key to the tourism sector's recovery. In this session at the Asian Development Bank… Southeast Asia Policy Roundtable for ADB Developing Member Country Government Counterparts (Invitation Only) Keynote Speech Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Under-Secretary-General, United Nations; Executive Secretary, UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the PacificKishore Mahbubani, Distinguished Fellow, Asia Research Institute, National University Singapore Disclaimer The views expressed on this website are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) or its Board of Governors or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this publication and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. By making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area, or by using the term “country” in this document, ADB does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area. Event Coordinator/s Jason Rush Related Full Agenda ADB Organizer/s Southeast Asia Department Read Also SEADS 2022 Event Website ADB Event Page Follow SEADS 2022 on Facebook Topics ICT Regional Cooperation and Integration Finance Industry and Trade Gender Equality