On 21 January 2011, on the sidelines of the 13th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya held bilateral meetings with several heads of delegation from BIMSTEC member countries to discuss cooperation in both bilateral and BIMSTEC frameworks. Gist as follows:
1. In his meeting with H.E. U Nyan Win, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Union of Myanmar, Foreign Minister Kasit emphasized ASEAN’s support for national reconciliation and greater democratization in Myanmar. Regarding temporary shelters for displaced persons from Myanmar in Thailand, the Foreign Minister said that the Royal Thai Government would be managing the shelters more closely and that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would coordinate with the relevant government agencies on issues of security, enhancing quality of life, health care and education for these displaced persons, which would help prepare them for their eventual return to Myanmar.
2. With H.E. Mrs. Preneet Kaur, Minister of State and External Affairs of India, Foreign Minister Kasit expressed his appreciation to India for inviting the Thai Prime Minister to pay an official visit to India in April 2011. In this regard, Minister Kaur reaffirmed the importance attached by India to furthering relations with Thailand and ASEAN. Both sides agreed that the upcoming visit would help promote closer cooperative ties between the two countries. Foreign Minister Kasit also congratulated India on the future establishment of the BIMSTEC Energy Centre in Bangalore, India. As most BIMSTEC member states are net energy importers, Foreign Minister Kasit suggested that the Centre should focus on alternative and renewable energy research and that Thailand was interested in learning from India’s experience, especially as it had recently set up a Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
3. In his meeting with H.E. Mr. Neomal Perera, Deputy Minister of External Affairs of Sri Lanka, Foreign Minister Kasit expressed his condolences on the recent flooding in Sri Lanka. He presented the Deputy Minister with a letter of condolence from the Thai Prime Minister to the Sri Lanka President and USD 100,000 in assistance as a gesture of Thailand’s goodwill towards Sri Lanka. In this regard, on behalf of the President and the people of Sri Lanka, the Deputy Minister expressed his appreciation for Thailand’s assistance which reflected the close ties between the two countries and their peoples. Foreign Minister Kasit also expressed Thailand’s readiness to take part in the construction of additional housing and infrastructure in Sri Lanka, for which there exist high demand following the end of internal conflict in the country. Furthermore, both sides emphasized the importance of culture and religion as a means to promote closer people to people ties between both sides. In this regard, the Sri Lankan Deputy Minister hoped that more Thai tourists would travel to Sri Lanka this year for the 2,600th anniversary celebrations of Lord Buddha’s enlightenment.
4. In his meeting with H.E. Mr. Lyopo Yeshey Zimba, Minister of Works and Human Settlement and Minister in charge of Foreign Affairs of Bhutan, both sides discussed ongoing cooperative projects especially development assistance provided by Thailand to Bhutan. Furthermore, Foreign Minister Kasit expressed Thailand’s interest in cooperating with Bhutan in traditional and herbal medicine, particularly in joint research to preserve local wisdom and their commercial applications. Both sides also discussed the former King of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) concept and His Majesty the King’s Philosophy on Sufficiency Economy, both of which reflect the moderation principle of the Lord Buddha. In Thailand, His Majesty the King has launched over 4,000 Royal Projects in such areas as agriculture, rural development, irrigation and sustainable development. Both sides agreed to consider the possibility of studying both developmental approaches, which could serve as models and examples for the sustainable development of other countries.
On cooperation within BIMSTEC, Foreign Minister Kasit discussed with the other heads of delegations the need to prioritize areas of cooperation as each member country were also party to other cooperative fora and had limited resources so as to avoid overlapping projects. In this regard, Foreign Minister Kasit suggested that BIMSTEC should prioritize projects directly involving the Bay of Bengal, such as the development of sea transportation and linking sea to land routes to landlocked countries such as Nepal and Bhutan. Other areas of cooperation that should be prioritized include fisheries, energy, natural disaster management and trade facilitation. Furthermore, as the seven member countries are now all aspiring democracies, Foreign Minister Kasit proposed that BIMSTEC member countries should work closer together to promote greater democratization and human rights as well as cooperation in interfaith dialogues.
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