On 16 October 2008, Dr. Manaspas Xuto, Special Envoy to the Thai Foreign Minister, as ACD Coordinator, attended the 7th Ministerial Meeting of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD 7) held in Astana, Kazakhstan. Gists of the meeting are as follows:
1. The Meeting decided to lift the moratorium on new members, and agreed to appoint the Central Asian Republic of Kyrgyzstan as the ACD’s 31st member. The Kingdom of Morocco was also accepted as a Partner for Development of the ACD.
2. Dr. Manaspas Xuto delivered a progress report on the expanding activities of the ACD since the 6th ACD Ministerial Meeting to the Meeting, covering both the project and dialogue dimensions. The Thai delegation also offered comments on both the future directions of this Asia-wide forum and current regional and international issues of mutual concern and interest. The former dealt with, among other things, cultural cooperation in the ACD, which the Meeting agreed to make the 20th project area, with Iran as Prime Mover and India as Co-Prime Mover. Thailand also updated the Meeting on the ACD Cultural Compendium, which it plans to publish under the theme of “Innovating Asian Wisdom for the Modern World”.
In addition, the Meeting had a wide-ranging discussion on current global issues such as food, energy, and financial crises in order to find out where and how ACD member countries could, together, cope with such problems efficiently.
Prime Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Press Division, Department of Information Tel.(02) 643-5170
Fax. (02) 643-5169 E-mail : div0704@mfa.go.th End.