On 28 February 2011 at 11.00 hours, Dr. Thomas Gambke, Member of the House of the Representative and Chairman of the ASEAN Parliamentary Group, German Parliament led a delegation of German Members of Parliament to pay a courtesy call on Mr. Suansan Jamornchan, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The said visit to Thailand was aimed at familiarising the German ASEAN Parliamentary Group with their Thai counterparts and an opportunity to exchange views on bilateral issues of mutual interest between both countries.
In this regard, both sides agreed that Thailand and Germany had so far maintained a good and stable relationship. To further strengthen this tie, Thailand and Germany could further cooperate on the promotion of trade and investment, policies on energy security, as well as find balance between economic growth and the utilisation of natural resources. To this end, Dr. Gambke and his delegation expressed their interest to learn more about the position and policy direction of Thailand in terms of foreign affairs as an ASEAN member. Vice-Minister Suansan stated that ASEAN’s effort towards the realization of an ASEAN community by 2015 and the infrastructural improvement within ASEAN would lead Thailand and ASEAN to become an attractive region for foreign investors. Vice-Minister Suansan also added that Thailand is an open country where everyone could invest and enjoy the facilities provided without experiencing any double standards or prejudices.
After this, the German ASEAN Parliamentary Group is scheduled to visit Ubon Ratchathani Province to follow up on the progress of the ‘Progressive Farmer Association’, a project funded by the German government in cooperation with Goethe Institute.
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