Then: ASEAN Secretary-General

Former Secretary-General of ASEAN, Surin Pitsuwan came as a faculty member to the Salzburg Global session: People, Peace and Planet in 2030: Shaping Inclusive and Sustainable Growth. Before this, Pitsuwan had a career at the Thai government, holding positions as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Foreign Affairs among others. The last session he attended as faculty was The Asia We Want: A Clean and Green Asia, where he said: "We need regional cooperation, we need coordination, and we need certainly passionate commitment from the younger generation because the world is theirs." Pitsuwan left that session feeling hopeful for the future as he reflected: "That sense of urgency and sense of collective awareness (that was displayed in Salzburg) is extremely inspiring - powerful." He sadly passed away a few weeks later.