UNPOG, part of the Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government (DPIDG) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), and in close collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Korea, has been organizing the annual Symposium for the Asia-Pacific region since 2017 for the purpose of strengthening the capacity of the public administration and promoting innovation for advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The ultimate objective of the annual Symposium is to strengthen capacity of governments to build institutions at the national and local levels to support SDG implementation, promote innovation for inclusive service delivery, and strengthen government capacity to develop open innovation systems to engage societies in designing, delivering and implementing policies and build effective partnerships.

The Symposium provides a good platform for participants to identify good practices and ideas and enhance cooperation between countries, between central and local governments and among all stakeholders. It includes discussions on improving public institutions and public services delivery, actions for localizing the SDGs, the impact of frontier technologies on the public sector, engaging all stakeholders, particularly civil society organizations and the private sector, enhancing means of implementation, as well as adapting plans and policies to the SDGs and different national contexts.