Thailand and Hungary needs to find pragmatic ways to enhance cooperation, particularly in the areas of science and technology and democratization, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya stressed during the courtesy call paid by His Excellency Denes Tomaj, Hungarian Ambassador to Thailand, on 23 January 2011.
The Foreign Minister recounted the outcome of the meeting among Thai Ambassadors to Europe held earlier this year, which agreed that Thailand needed to prioritise issues which Thailand could cooperate on with each EU member states. Hungary’s progress in developing clean and alternative energy, her success in being a European champion of freedom and openness, and her experience in dealing with migration were highlighted during the said meeting as areas Hungary particularly excelled in. The Hungarian Ambassador agreed that these were promising areas for further cooperation, and further noted that Hungary’s research in food industry would particularly benefit both Thailand and Hungary as food cradles of Asia and Europe, respectively.
Foreign Minister Kasit, reaffirmed the government’s firm conviction in Thailand as an open society. He said that as Thailand is a society in transition, she could learn from Hungary’s democratization process as well as her development in good governance and openness. The Hungarian Ambassador took note of Foreign Minister Kasit’s proposal for knowledge sharing in democratization, saying that it was an ongoing process even in Hungary, and that cooperation between the country’s respective think-tanks would be a good way to move forward.
During the meeting, the Foreign Minister and the Hungarian Ambassador also shared views on other issues such as knowledge sharing on migration, an area which both Thailand and Hungary had experience in. They also discussed the need to educate youngsters about history without creating prejudice against neighbours, with the Hungarian Ambassador noting that in Hungary’s experience, a working group composed of academics from Hungary, Romania and Slovakia were successful in creating a common history textbook deployed across each of the country’s classroom.
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