On 27 December 2010, Mr. Marc Ungeheuer, Ambassador of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg to Thailand, paid a courtesy call on Mr. Kasit Piromya, Foreign Minister, on the occasion of the completion of his mission. In this regard, Foreign Minister Kasit hosted luncheon in honor of the Luxembourg Ambassador on the same day at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In this connection, Foreign Minister Kasit expressed his congratulations to Mr. Ungeheuer on taking up new position of Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Union to Singapore in January 2011. In response, Mr. Ungeheuer expressed his appreciation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its great assistance in establishing the official Luxembourg Embassy in Thailand which is very conducive to enhance closer bilateral relations between Thailand and Luxembourg. Furthermore, Mr. Ungeheuer said that the experience during his mission as Ambassador to Thailand was an eventful period of Thailand and Luxembourg relations including Luxembourg high-ranking officers’ visits to Thailand such as the visit of Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Jeannot Krecke in November 2008 and the visit of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean Asselborn as guest of the Thai Foreign Ministry in 2007 and 2008.
On other bilateral relations issues, both sides are working on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the financial management between agencies involved in Thailand and Luxembourg to extend the cooperation in information exchange which will boost confidence in both countries’ investors and will develop transparency in finance and investment system. In this regard, Foreign Minister Kasit said that Thailand must learn about knowledge and best practices in funding and financial management in which Luxembourg has expertise because Thailand needs to place itself as financial centrality in Southeast Asia. On enhancing the investment of Thai businessmen in Luxembourg, Foreign Minister Kasit said that, even though Thai businessmen have invested abroad more, there should be an investment management center because Thai businessmen are not familiar with this part of Europe. In this connection, Mr. Ungeheuer added that, besides its expertise in financial management, Luxembourg is also a regional center of information and technology which will well accommodate the Thai businessmen’s investment in Luxembourg. Furthermore, the Foreign Minister Kasit stated that Thailand and Luxembourg should further enhance their cooperation in air cargo services since Luxembourg Airport is the 5th largest air cargo platform in Europe
Regarding the development cooperation between Luxembourg and the subregion countries especially those in the Great Mekong Subregion, Mr. Ungeheuer said that there was a signing of development partnership agreement with Mekong River Commission (MRC) last week to grant financial support to assist Laos in tackling climate change under this development framework. In addition, both sides agreed on increasing the numbers of tourists from Luxembourg and vice versa.
For further information, please contact the Press Division, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel.02-6435170, Fax.02-6435169, E-mail: div0704@mfa.go.th