Annex: Speeches
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1.1 OPENING REMARKS by H.E. Dr. Tej Bunnag
Chairman of the Executive Board,  Asia-Pacific Development Center on Disability / Former Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 
Government of Thailand

Mr. Hiroyuki Konuma, Assistant Director-General & Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation (FAO),
Mr. Shuichi Ohno, Executive Director, International Cooperation Department, The Nippon Foundation,
Mr. Shun-ichi Murata, Deputy Executive Secretary, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP),
Excellences, Distinguished Guests, Friends and Colleagues, 
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning.
The year 2013 is significant for us, for it is 10 years since the establishment of the APCD Foundation under the Royal Patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. APCDs mission is to empower persons with disabilities and promote inclusive barrier-free and rights-based societies across Asia and the Pacific.

From 2011-2012, APCD in collaboration with the Nippon Foundation, conducted roundtable talks with representatives from the business as well as the disability sector to define the concept of disability-inclusive business. These discussions led to the elaboration of disability-inclusive business which strives to utilize the unique knowledge that persons with disabilities have from the perspective of entrepreneur, employee and customer.  While the concept of disability-inclusive business has grown particularly in urban settings, the significance of agribusiness, especially in the context of the Asia-Pacific region which is largely rural and is where persons with disabilities mostly live, has not been explored deeply.

In view of the urgent need, APCD in collaboration with FAO and the Nippon Foundation conducted pioneering research on more than 60 case studies in targeted Southeast Asian countries namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. As one of the research processes, this workshop is designed to highlight the trends, gaps and good practices in the field of agribusiness in relations to persons with disabilities, The hoped-for outcome is stronger involvement of business, agribusiness practitioners, governments, civil society, the United Nations and other international organizations in developing future strategies to make business environments more disability-inclusive.

This workshop will be the first official event related to disability-inclusive agribusiness at the United Nations level, as well as the first disability-inclusive business initiative in the new Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities, 2013-2022, initiated by the United Nations ESCAP. APCD has been endorsed by the United Nations ESCAP through the Incheon Strategy to encourage private sector engagement in disability-inclusive business that promotes disability-friendly products, services, employment opportunities and entrepreneurship development.

While this workshop is one step towards promoting and realizing disability-inclusive business in Asia and the Pacific, much work still needs to be done if we are to promote equal opportunities for persons with disabilities in the field of agribusiness. I wish therefore to emphasize the following points:
1) Partnerships should be developed between different stakeholders including the business sector, agribusiness, government, civil society, persons with disabilities and other key players. A common understanding of the importance of disability-inclusive agribusiness and its significance to be the general community should also be developed.
2) A collaborative framework should be established to create a sustainable mechanism for the implementation of disability-inclusive agribusiness in multifarious settings.
3) Good practices and success stories on disability-inclusive agribusiness should be continuously supported and promoted for replication in other communities. These stories can serve as an inspiration not only to persons with disabilities but also to the general public in different fields on how a certain undertaking can be disability-inclusive and successful at the same time.
4) Most importantly, we should always believe in the capacity of persons with disabilities to engage in the field of their choosing, including disability-inclusive agribusiness, and promote their right to equal opportunities, just like everyone else.

In closing, I would like to say that today is the start of greater things to come especially in the field of disability-inclusive agribusiness. On behalf of APCD, I would like to extend my thanks to all of you for being here today to support this unique undertaking.

Thank you very much.


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1.2 WELCOME REMARKS by Mr. Shun-ichi Murata
Deputy Executive Secretary, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
Your Excellency Dr. Tej Bunnag, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Asia-Pacific Center on Disability,
Mr.  Hiroyuki  Konuma,  Assistant  Director-General  and  Regional Representative  for  Asia  and  the  Pacific,  Food  and  Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,
Mr.  Shuichi  Ohno,  Executive  Director,  International  Cooperation Department, The Nippon Foundation, 
Senator Monthian Buntan, APCD Executive Board Member,
Ladies and gentlemen,
A very good morning to you all. 

It  is  my  great  pleasure  to  be  here  this  morning  and  to  address  this Regional Workshop on Disability-Inclusive Agribusiness Development. 
At  the  outset,  let  me  commend  our  partners,  the  Asia-Pacific Development Center on Disability (APCD), and the Nippon Foundation, for  their  relentless  work  and  commitment  to  promoting  Disability Inclusive  Business  in  this  region.  I  am  happy  to  see  our  partnership growing,  as we  together  step up efforts to uphold the rights of persons with disabilities.

Today,  there are  650 million persons  living  with disabilities in Asia and the  Pacific.  Most  of  them  experience  daily  discrimination,  isolation, exclusion from social and economic activities, often as result  of  limited employment  opportunities.  They  are  also  disproportionately  poorer than persons without disabilities. 

Only a few  months ago, in November 2012, 39 governments of the AsiaPacific  region  gathered  in  Incheon,  Republic  of  Korea,  to  tackle  the barriers that prevent persons with disabilities from  participating  fully  in society.  The  Meeting  adopted  the  worlds  first  set  of  regionally-agreed disability-inclusive  development  goals    the  Incheon  Strategy.  I  am happy  to  see  that  all  the  Governments  represented  in  this  room  today were  part  of  that  historic  adoption:  Cambodia,  Lao  PDR,  Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam.

The Incheon Strategy  charts  the regional course over the next ten years. For the first time, the Asian and Pacific region will be able to track and measure progress in our efforts to improve  the quality of life of persons with  disabilities.  The  business  sector  will  play  a  critical  part  in  this development.  It  is  therefore  with  great  pleasure  that  I  welcome  this workshop on Disability-Inclusive Agribusiness Development.

As some of you know, ESCAP, the Nippon Foundation and APCD launched the first Disability-Inclusive Business Award during the Incheon Meeting. The aim of this Award is to publicly recognize businesses that are pioneers in promoting business practices that cater to the needs of persons with disabilities. The first Award is expected to be conferred at the end of 2013.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Building a disability-inclusive society is not only a moral imperative, but also  a  tremendous  social  and  economic  opportunity  to  realize  the potential of 15% of the regions population.

The first Goal of the Incheon Strategy is to Reduce poverty and enhance work and employment prospects for persons with disabilities.  Having a  decent  job  is  the  best  means  of  overcoming  poverty.  For  people working  in  the  agriculture sector,  informal  and precarious  employment tends to be the norm. The prospects for persons with disabilities in rural areas are even more limited. The challenges range from physical barriers to  performing  daily  agricultural  tasks  to  negative  attitudes  about  their ability to work, in this high-risk and physically demanding profession.
In South-East Asia,  agriculture  employs around 44 per cent of the  total labour  force.  Agricultural  productivity,  however,  is  still  low, contributing  to  only  13  per  cent of  the  subregions  aggregate  GDP.  As governments  invest  in  agriculture,  the  concerns  of  persons  with disabilities  need  to  be  considered.  Those  who  can  and  want  to  work must be supported, protected and equipped to  do so.  It is not only  the right thing to do, but it also carries long-lasting benefits for all parties.

Through  rehabilitation  services  and targeted extension services, persons with  disabilities  can  productively  integrate  in  economic  life  and contribute  their  unique  knowledge  and  skills.  Modern  technology  and accessible  design  can  also  increase  productivity  for  agricultural businesses,  translating  into  increased  profits  and  economy-wide benefits.

I  am  very  pleased  that  the  Food  and  Agriculture  Organization  of  the United Nations  is a partner in this important initiative. FAO, a firm and reliable  partner  in  ESCAPs  work  on  a  range  of  issues,  from  rural development  to  food security,  is ideally placed to  provide the technical and operational support in promoting Disability-Inclusive Agribusiness. 

Ladies and gentlemen,
As  we  embark  on  this  new  Asian  and  Pacific  Decade  of  Persons  with Disabilities,  2013-2022,  let  us  seize  all  opportunities  to  promote  the rights  of  persons  with  disabilities.  On  this  journey,  disability-inclusive business  development  will  be  critical  in  stimulating  a  climate  of  nondiscrimination and equal opportunity for all.

I wish you all a very constructive meeting. Let us all work together to Make the Right Real for the 650 million persons with disabilities in our region.

I thank you.


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1.3 WELCOME REMARKS by Mr. Hiroyuki Konuma
Assistant Director-General and FAO Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific

Mr. Shuichi Ohno, Executive director , Nippon Foundation,
Mr. Shunichi Murata, Deputy executive Secretary, ESCAP,
Dr. Tej Bunnag,  Chairman of the Executive Board  of APCD,
Distinguished guests, resource persons,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
It is my great pleasure to extend to all of you a warm welcome to this Regional workshop on Disability-Inclusive Agribusiness Development .  
First of all, I wish to express my heartfelt  gratitude and appreciation to the Nippon Foundation and APCD for their strong partnership with FAO in organizing this important gathering.  I also wish to thank UN ESCAP for hosting this  special even at the centre of United  Nations in Asia and the Pacific region.  
Hunger and malnutrition continue to be major challenges in this region. FAO estimates that nearly 870 million people were undernourished , out of which Asia and the Pacific region holds the largest share of 62 percent, nearly two thirds of the world total. There has been a little improvement in recent past influenced by widening inequity and income disparities as well as high and volatile food prices which affected the most vulnerable groups of society including people with disabilities and their family members.

Ladies and gentlemen, 
Persons with disabilities make up one of the worlds most significant part of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in society, often excluded from productive opportunities . According to the World Report on Disability issued by the World Health Organization and the World Bank in 2011,  persons with disability share 15 percent of the world total population.  More significantly, in Asia and the Pacific region, approximately 40 percent of the total population is  persons with disability and their families. 

Notwithstanding rights that are well understood, persons with disabilities continue to face discrimination, social exclusion and poverty in many cases. Efforts to make a difference has been continuing by governments, UN agencies, Civil Society Organizations and most importantly by the persons with disability by themselves.  However, the progress has been rather slow in general and affected by emerging challenges such as negative impact of climate changes and natural disasters, as well as high food prices.  FAO has long been a promoter of the rights of persons with disabilities and has funded and implemented a number of field projects in cooperation with partners and recipient governments. The focus has been on capacity building and skill development and linking them with markets,  with an aim to facilitate persons with disability to gain income generating opportunities and self-reliance, thereby promoting their self-esteem in equitable society. In Thailand, FAO initiated the project Mushroom Production Training for Disabled People 13 years ago for improving the livelihoods of rural people with disabilities.

In developing countries, it is considered that four of every five people with disabilities live in rural area. Most people with disabilities who do work in rural areas are engaged in income-generating activities as subsistence farmers or small-scale entrepreneurs in the informal economy. However, they frequently lack not only access to existing disability services such as vocational rehabilitation services but also lack access to essential business development services, transportation and microfinance, particularly credit, because of the assumption that people with disabilities are not credit-worthy or constitute a high risk group. However, we need to pose the question whether they are really a high risk group. 

Last year, under the ESCAPs initiative, Incheon strategy Make the Right Real for persons with disabilities in Asia and the Pacific has been adapted. Member countries are now committed to the achievement of the regional vision of an inclusive society that ensures, promotes and upholds the rights of all persons with disabilities in Asia and the Pacific. The Incheon goal one aims to reduce poverty and enhance work and employment prospects. Provide adequate support to people with disabilities engages in agriculture and agribusiness will certainly contribute to achieve this goal. 

Today, you will hear interesting cases and good practices identified in selected country in Asia through the study conducted by Asia Pacific Center of Disability, the Nippon Foundation and FAO and we wish to discuss further to identify the way forward to support the people with disabilities in agriculture and agribusiness as well as the agribusiness sector to develop the disability-inclusive agribusiness development.

Ladies and gentlemen,
I believe this workshop would provide all the opportunity for the exchange of views on recent developments on enabling environment for disability-inclusive agribusiness development and discuss the issues, gaps and identify future course of actions among the participants from different sectors and levels. I hope that this opportunity of multistakeholders including senior policy makers and planners both from Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Social Welfare, experts from partner organizations, CSOs and UN organizations as well as the agribusiness sector, would lead to a formation of long-term platform to enhance collaboration and concerned effort on disability-inclusive agribusiness development. 
Before concluding,  I would like to thank the Asia Pacific Development Center for Disability and  the Nippon Foundation for providing FAO to opportunity to collaborate this issue. I would also like to thank all the participants present for sparing their time as well as providing their inputs and sharing their experiences to support this important workshop.

I wish you fruitful discussions and a pleasant stay in Bangkok.

Thank you very much.


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1.4 KEYNOTE SPEECH by Mr. Monthian Buntan, Senator / APCD Executive Board Member

Political Commitment and Policy Support for Disability-Inclusive Development

Member of The Senate, The Royal Thai Parliament
Delivered at the Regional Seminar on Disability-inclusive Agribusiness Development
February 21, 2013
Bangkok Thailand
What is Disability-Inclusive Development?
 Incorporate disability needs, requirements and benefits in all aspects (designing, implementing, evaluating);
 Enable persons with disabilities to participate fully and effectively on an equal
basis with others and without any form of discrimination;
 Follow the principle of rights-based development.
What was development in the past?
 Ignored, excluded and left out disability prospective;
 Lacked meaningful participation by persons with disabilities;
 Treated persons with disabilities as objects of charity-based care and guardianship, etc.
How should the policy be developed for Disability-Inclusive Development?
 Create the environment which is ACCESSIBLE to and inclusive of persons with disabilities, based on the principle of Universal Design and the use of Assistive Technologies with Reasonable
Accommodations;
 Encourage and support persons with disabilities and their representative organizations to fully and effective participate in all steps and procedures of
policy formulation, implementation and evaluation;
 Support economic empowerment of person with disabilities, including in the area of business development, and organizations in order to sustain
their livelihood and promote active/productive participation.
What kind of policy is needed in the
agriculture field concerning disability?
 Concerning resources, such as funding;
 Concerning accessibility of information and knowledge;
 Concerning relevant skill training;
 Concerning availability and accessibility of market.
Why does the business sector need to be involved in the development process?
 The business sector is increasingly playing more significant role in social and economic development;
 It makes more business sense to include and support 15 percent of the population so as to expand the market;
 It guarantees more success than to depend only on the government which tends to be slow in action and, often, lacks good governance.

Why do persons with disabilities need to be involved in business?
 To make business sector more accessible, inclusive and innovative;
 To help grow, broaden and expand the scope of business;
 To diversify employment opportunity.

What was collaboration between the agriculture and disability sector?
 So far very little;
 Based on individual efforts and experiences with little or no systematic policies; What is the significance of PWDs being involved in the policy-making process?
 Ensuring disability-inclusive policy What kind of policies and strategies should be elaborated based on good partnership between the agriculture and disability sector?
 Disability-inclusive loan services;
 Disability-inclusive agriculture-related information and knowledge;
 Disability-inclusive agriculture-related skill training and development support;
 Disability-inclusive or Disability-specific agribusiness development models, such as cooperatives, community/social enterprises, etc.


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1.5 KEYNOTE SPEECH
Mr. Supree Baosingsauy, Assistant Vice President, Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited

Mr. Chairman, Distinguished Guest, Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great privilege and great pleasure to be given this opportunity to convey, on behalf of the Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited, or CPF, our efforts in promoting and supporting equal rights for the disabled. 

As we are a part of society, we realized that we should play a vital role in food security and environmental preservation. 

The Charoen Pokphand Foods established the non-profit organization called Rural Live Development Foundation since 1987. There are 5 main activities we initiated.

First, regarding the food security, the Rural Lives Development Foundation had promoted and supported, the establishment of a Lunch Project,which initiated by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn,in schools by raising layer-chickens to produce eggs for lunch as nutrition. At present, there are over 420 schools throughout the country that have joined this initiative projects, with schools for the hearing and vision impaired such as the Punyanukul School in Chiangrai province for the vision impaired, the Sothaht School for the hearing impaired in Nakornpathom province, the Srisangwan School in Chiangmai province that teaches people how to raise chicken and fish as well as the promotion of raising bantam chickens among disabled farmers in Prachinburi province. 

Second, sustainable social initiatives, CP Foods supports skills-development for disabled students and farmers so that they can increase their familys income and livelihood by learning how to raise aquaculture, poultry and  fighting  cock  within their communities.

Third, to promote environmental preservation, CP Foods educated disabled farmers by encouraging them to generate biogas from cattle manure as well as use paddy husk for fuel instead of wood.

Forth, throughout the years and at present CP Foods continues to hire disabled employees to work within the organization in engineering and Information Technology work.

Fifth, in order to give the opportunity for disabilities equally for income generating projects through business practice in many cases especially for agribusiness, we support and encourage 5 initiative projects.

The first initiative is Lunch Project for school children will learn to raise chicken collect eggs for sale through the school cooperative store. Next, Project for school for blind at Chiangmai province to raise chicken. Next, Veteran Village to raise chicken, fish and grow vegetable and rice. Next, the Intellectual impaired School of Nakornsawan province. The last initiative is the homeless and Street Children at Saraburee Province.

Last but not least, Charoen Pokphand Group of Company and Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company limited for more than 92 years, CP Groups operations and investment both locally and internationally have always contained our three-benefit philosophy. Passionately embedded into our everyday working life, our businesses and affiliates with more than 280,000 employees worldwide firmly uphold that our work must serve 3 main benefits. First, benefit to the Country where we have run our business there.  Second, benefit to the People who live in the area where our business had done. And Third, benefit to the Company. It can be said that we are not only involve to agriculture business, but also the implementation of social responsibility.

It is over 25 years that The Rural Lives Development Foundation was established and our objectives are focusing on people, children and disabilities in disadvantage areas to obtain a better life with activities that promote and encourage vocational training.

For the rural and disadvantage people

Thank you


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