The pandemic has transformed many of the world's cities into hot spots, reversed many socio-economic achievements, and devastated labor markets, leading to adverse economic effects, said United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sharif at the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) third Southeast Asia Development Symposium (SEADS).

SEADS 2022, "Sustainable Solutions for Southeast Asia's Recovery," was held on 16–17 March.

Thanks to the pandemic, the Philippines is now rethinking "tourism for the future," said Philippine Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat at the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) third Southeast Asia Development Symposium (SEADS). She said the government is currently drawing up a 6-year tourism development plan to revive the sector and ensure the industry is more resilient against future crises.

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 that is sustainable into the future,” said Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike at the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) third Southeast Asia Development Symposium (SEADS).

SEADS 2022, "Sustainable Solutions for Southeast Asia's Recovery," was held on 16–17 March. For insights on solutions helping Southeast Asian countries address development challenges, visit ADB SEADS: https://seads.adb.org.

To prepare for more pandemics in the future, countries should continue surveillance efforts, boost vaccine research and development and manufacturing capability, and strengthen the regulatory environment and health structure and systems, said Anh Wartel, deputy director general for Clinical, Assessment, Regulatory, Evaluation Unit at the International Vaccine Institute at the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) third Southeast Asia Development Symposium (SEADS).

Southeast Asian countries should seize the opportunity presented by the pandemic to rebuild tourism so it is more sustainable, inclusive, and less susceptible to shocks, said leaders at the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) third Southeast Asia Development Symposium (SEADS).

Moderator: David Ingles, Anchor, Bloomberg TV and Radio

Speakers:

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) presents a major financing challenge made even more daunting by the setback and fiscal stresses created by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this session during the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) third Southeast Asia Development Symposium (SEADS), experts focused on unlocking financing for the SDGs and explored how governments, the private sector, and other partners in the region are innovating to rise to this challenge.

Moderator: Smita Nakhooda, Senior Results Management Specialist, ADB

Speakers

COVID-19 has fast-tracked digitalization across many spheres of society, sectors, and markets. In this session during the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) third Southeast Asia Development Symposium (SEADS), experts examined the importance of harnessing digital technology and innovation to accelerate sustainable development in Asia and beyond.

The session was organized by ADB and Amazon Web Services.

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 sense of all the information and knowledge needed for policy making. In this session at the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) third Southeast Asia Development Symposium (SEADS), experts shared experiences on how knowledge management and future thinking can be employed to plan better for development. The session was organized by ADB.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reversed decades of robust tourism growth in Southeast Asia, causing widespread business closures and millions of job losses. Consequently, progress toward several Sustainable Development Goals has been derailed in tourism-dependent destinations. Women, youth, and disadvantaged groups are suffering disproportionally.

In this session at the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) third Southeast Asia Development Symposium (SEADS), experts highlighted innovative examples of how to shift to more sustainable tourism.