Asia-Pacific is being advised to beef up green economy development and adopt a sufficiency economy to help recover the regional economy once the pandemic eases.
Speaking at an online seminar titled "From Recovery to Resilience: The Development Dimension" organised by the International Institute for Trade and Development, Supachai Panitchpakdi, former secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, said the region needs to pursue the sufficiency economy principle of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great as one of the principles for resilient and inclusive growth with sufficient food, shelter, education and basic needs.
As well, it is time for Asia-Pacific countries to look at green economy development to tackle the imbalance between economic and non-economic development to create sustainability, said Mr Supachai, also former director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
"I wish the WTO had come up with the free flow of goods such as personal protective equipment, medical supplies and food supply without export restrictions even from the lockdown. The decision needs support at the WTO meeting which is due to take place on Dec 21 in Geneva to talk about the waiver of TRIP [trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights] agreement of intellectual property for the Covid-19 vaccine patent in order to solve the shortage of vaccines in developing and least developed countries."
Mr Supachai also urged Asean to set up an emergency fund to deal with the post-Covid-19 period to recover the economy.
He also urged Thailand to draw up a plan for the debt crisis and not to underestimate this problem, citing a surge in joblessness.
According to Mr Supachai, there is still an existing imbalance of economic policies in Asia-Pacific.
"Amid the economic growth, we have overused the planet's resources such as biodiversity," he said. "Currently, in the Asia-Pacific, we do not do non-economic policymaking very well, especially for education although Asia has the highest public expenditure for education in the world. The region's education management is pretty much unprepared, given the lack of preparation for working from home, internet access and management of garbage from food delivery during the Covid-19 pandemic."
Mr Supachai added the worrying issues for the post-pandemic period include inadequate public investment in healthcare, sustainable development, access to medicine, education for all ages and gender equality which need to be addressed now.