The ESCAP High-level Intergovernmental Meeting, hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (Minister Chung Chae-min) and the UNESCAP, was held Monday, October 29, with the theme "Realizing the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific."

※ ESCAP High-level Intergovernmental Meeting is a meeting of ESCAP members and quasi-member countries to provide measures for realizing the rights and interests of people with disabilities in the Asia Pacific. It consists of high-level meetings of policy practitioners (10.29 ~ 10.31) and ministerial level meetings (11.1 ~ 11.2)

The opening ceremony of the high-level meeting was held at 9:30 am in the Songdo Convensia Premier Ballroom on October 29th, with about 370 people including 180 government delegations and representatives of civil society organizations from the Asia Pacific and abroad in attendance.

Shun-ichi Murata, Deputy Secretary General of ESCAP, and Yong-hyun Park, Minister of Health and Welfare, gave welcoming speeches at the Opening Ceremony. This was followed with a message of congratulations from Monthian Buntan, a member of the Thai Senate, and also Young-wook Song, Chairman of the Korea Disabled Persons Foundation, who overcame physical disabilities and is actively serving as a lawyer.

In order to celebrate the opening ceremony, the Heart to Heart String Ensemble Orchestra, consisted of youths with developmental disabilities, and Dong-Kyun Kim, a flutist who was the first disabled student to enter the prestigious Korea National University of Arts, performed "Fall" of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" and received great applause.