On 28 June 2011, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya met with Mr. Yerzhan Kazykhanov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan at the eve of the 38th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM 38) of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) held between 28-30 June 2011 in Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan, to discuss issues of mutual interests and concern including future of the OIC, expanded economic cooperation and cooperation on religions.
The Kazakh Foreign Minister thanked Foreign Minister Kasit for travelling to Kazakhstan to attend the CFM 38 and emphasized that this meeting was particularly significant since it was the first such meeting since the political situation in the Middle East and North Africa had taken place. As such, the OIC needed to adjust itself accordingly in order to meet the new political environment and global challenges.
Foreign Minister Kasit affirmed that Thailand is ready to closely cooperate with the OIC. He said that Thailand and Kazakhstan could also enhance cooperation to oppose extremism and Islamophobia as well as transnational crimes. He further noted that sharing of experiences on the integration of minority groups could be useful since Kazakhstan is home to over 200 minority groups.
The Kazakh Foreign Minister also stressed that Kazakhstan’s President and Government have placed high priority on promoting relations with Thailand in all areas. Foreign Minister Kasit shared the same sentiment and stressed that, Thailand would continue to closely cooperate with Kazakhstan. In addition to close cooperation between Thailand and Kazakhstan in the OIC, the two countries also work closely in other regional and international fora as such the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and the United Nations. In this regard, the Kazakh Foreign Minister praised Thailand for its active role in CICA and expressed hope that Thailand would continue to do so.
Foreign Minister Kasit noted Kazakhstan’s increasing role in the United Nations and praised Kazakhstan for its sustained economic and political stability. He further suggested that the two countries could increase cooperation in the area of energy security, especially petroleum. Foreign Minister Kasit said that direct flights between the two countries could be increased and, thereby, served to increase awareness and greater people-to-people contact. With regard to logistics, both sides agreed to consider identifying optimal routes for trade connectivity in order to increase bilateral trade and investment between the two countries.
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