Athlete representatives from all 44 Asian National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) will be invited to participate and discuss topics covering a wide range of areas, including information on future Games, increasing female participation in sports and preparing for a career after retirement. 

It will be staged remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"We have a clear vision to make for an inclusive Asia through Para sport and it is the athletes acting as role models who will drive this," said APC President Majid Rashed. 

"We put them at the heart of our activity and therefore I’m delighted to announce the first ever Athletes' Forum for our region. 

"This will help our athletes be informed about key issues that can help them in their sporting careers and afterwards but also crucially it gives them a platform to share their views which will help us in our future decision making."

Expert speakers are set to lead the various topics, with APC Athletes’ Committee chair Jeong Min-lee due to act as a moderator.

"Since being elected, along with my fellow committee members, I have been working hard to connect athletes from across our region," the South Korean Para Nordic skier said. 

"Asia has some of the most sophisticated NPCs with proven track records of helping athletes to achieve success but also we have some of the most under-resourced NPCs which are much earlier in their stage of development. 

"All athletes though share a common goal, to be the best that they can be and to support others to follow in their footsteps. 

"So I’m really excited that we have this forum to connect us all, share our experiences and learn from one another."

The event is supported by the National Paralympic Committee of South Korea, which had offered to host the event before the global health crisis. 

"Throughout my career as a para athlete and sport administrator, there has been one major mission - making athletes’ voice more effective in the governance of the Paralympic Movement," the organisation's President Lee Myung-ho said. 

"So, personally, what is more exciting about the APC Athletes’ Forum is that this will be a great opportunity to actualise my lifelong mission at a much broader scale. 

"This forum will become another communication channel for athletes to exchange their views and for the APC to ensure that the athletes’ voice is heard. 

"I am more than delighted that KPC will play a part in the first ever online APC Athletes’ Forum and hoping that this will lead us to a whole new phase in our region."

Registration for the event is open and the key speakers are set to be announced soon. 

The final event of the Athletes' Forum coincides with the International Day of People with Disabilities.