On 28 October 2011, in addition to attending the First Mekong — ROK Foreign Ministers Meeting in Seoul, Republic of Korea, Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul also paid a courtesy call on Mr. Lee Myung-bak, President of the Republic of Korea, and held a bilateral meeting with Mr. Kim Sung-hwan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the ROK. Following these meetings, Foreign Minister Surapong gave a press interview. Gist as follows:
1. First Mekong — ROK Foreign Ministers Meeting Foreign Minister Surapong attended the Meeting together with the Foreign Ministers of the ROK, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Vietnam and the Deputy Foreign Minister of Myanmar. The Meeting discussed several issues of common interest. On his part, Foreign Minister Surapong stressed three important issues, namely water management, food security and connectivity. Firstly, the Mekong basin countries should cooperate closely on the issue of water management to solve the problem of floods and droughts in long term. Secondly, as natural disasters can lead to famine, food security is an important issue that should be prioritised, including the need for long term food preservation and large storage space and silos for agricultural produce. Thirdly, transportation connectivity should be enhanced, especially the route linking Dawei Deep Sea Port - Kanchanaburi - Bangkok - Cambodia - Vietnam, sections of which are presently still inaccessible. Additionally, opportunities for foreign investment and support should be more increased.
Furthermore, Foreign Minister Surapong commended positive development in Myanmar and urged each participating country to support Myanmar. In this connection, the Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister expressed appreciation to the Thai Foreign Minister and Thailand’s developmental assistance to Myanmar.
2. Courtesy Call on the ROK President Foreign Minister Surapong presented a letter from the Thai Prime Minister to the President, expressing interest in the ROK's Major Rivers Restoration Project, which could be applied and used as a guideline for Thailand to solve its own flood problem. The President proposed the use of computer systems to control water levels in dams and waste water treatment. Furthermore, Foreign Minister Surapong informed the President that the Thai Prime Minister and relevant Ministers may pay a visit to the ROK to learn from the ROK's experience on these matters. In this connection, the President said he would be pleased to welcome the Thai Prime Minister and her delegation and expressed the ROK’s readiness to share its experience and expertise with the Kingdom
3. Bilateral Meeting with the ROK Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Surapong expressed appreciation to the ROK Foreign Minister for the ROK’s assistance to flood victims in Thailand and informed his counterpart of the latest situation, including the Thai Government’s relief and recovery measures for the flood victims, such as the dispatch of experts to fix damaged machines and equipment and the proposed enactment of a loans act. In this regard, the ROK Foreign Minister hoped that Thailand would recover soon and reaffirmed the ROK's continued readiness to invest in Thailand.
Foreign Minister Surapong also expressed appreciation to his counterpart for the ROK’s technical support and assistance in the amount of 1 million US dollars, especially for the construction of a factory to produce materials from plasma under the Thai Red Cross Society and hoped that the two countries could cooperate on other public health and medical technology issues. Furthermore, both sides agreed to convene a meeting of the Thai-ROK Joint Commission in the near future while the ROK side was ready to expedite its consideration of the Draft Agreement on Science and Technology Cooperation.
During his visit to the ROK, the Thai Foreign Minister also gave a press interview to ROK media who enquired about the flood situation in Thailand and the Thai Government’s relief measures as well as his visit to the Major Rivers Restoration Project of the ROK on 27 October 2011.
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