On the occasion of the 3rd UNESCO Global Forum on the Ethics of AI, the side event “Enabling an AI-Ready Workforce” convened a diverse group of around 65 experts and key stakeholders from 15+ countries and five continents from government, the private sector, academia, and civil society to address the urgent need for inclusive and equitable AI skills development in the Asia-Pacific region. The discussions revealed a strong consensus that building an AI-ready workforce requires moving beyond purely technical training to foster a holistic ecosystem grounded in ethics, inclusivity, and local context.