The following article was contributed via the Embassy of Thailand in Korea. ― ED. By Don Pramudwinai The year 2020 was truly a disruptive time in world history. The fast-spreading COVID-19 pandemic managed to halt even the wave of globalization and compelled governments to go into lockdown. Businesses were forced to close, in some cases leading to furloughs or unemployment, further widening existing social inequalities. Everyone came to the realization that business would never be the same again, and began to accept the concept of a "new normal." Don PramudwinaiThe pandemic is a harsh reminder that our life is full of uncertainties and unknown parameters. In worst-case scenarios, we don't even know what we don't know, leaving us completely off guard once it happens. The damage from these "unknown unknowns" or "black swans," as they are called by some theorists, is increasingly troublesome since the world is getting smaller and more intertwined. In these conditions, for a medium-sized nation such as Thailand, we have always recognized that multilateralism, aiming for sustainable growth, will be the prevailing solution in response to black swans. The idea is that the challenges that hit us the hardest are usually the ones that undermine human security. Therefore, countries need to work in concert; otherwise, the problem will just linger, by perpetually shifting elsewhere. This has led to our advocacy of sustainable development in all the multilateral institutions we have either founded or joined, from the League of Nations to the United Nations, and regionally, from ASEAN to ACMECS (Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy) and ACD (Asia Cooperation Dialogue), to name a few.