On 10 March 2009, Mrs. Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, UN Under-Secretary General and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director, and Mr. G. Giridhar, UNFPA Representative to Thailand, paid a courtesy call on Mr. Kasit Piromya, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
During the courtesy call, Mrs. Obaid informed Foreign Minister Kasit of her four-day visit to Thailand to chair the Asia & the Pacific UNFPA regional meeting in Bangkok to evaluate UNFPA programmes in the region. Currently, twenty-two countries in the region are home to UNFPA offices. For the Bangkok office, Mrs. Obaid inquired of the draft of Host Country Agreement, submitted for the Foreign Ministry’s consideration earlier for establishment of a regional office in addition to the country office in Thailand. Foreign Minister Kasit asked the UNFPA to provide more information so as to compare the submitted Agreement to those submitted by UNFPA to other countries. Foreign Minister Kasit also welcomed the appointment of Mr. Najibullah Mones Assifi as next UNFPA Representative to Thailand and expressed that the Thai side would expedite the internal process of Mr.Assifi’s appointment.
Additionally, the Foreign Minister briefed UN Under-Secretary General and UNFPA Executive Director on the Government’s undertakings to improve living quality of the Thai elderly and youths. The implemented policies include 15 years of free education, monthly allowance for the elderly over 65 years old and financial assistance for village volunteers who take care the young and the elderly. Mrs. Obaid admired such undertakings of Thailand. Both sides also took the opportunity to discuss coorporation on looking after the elderly in Thailand as the Kingdom is facing the challenge of the aging society.
UNFPA has started its operation in Thailand since 1971 and cooperated with the Thai Government under the Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP), carried out every five years. Currently, both sides are working under the 9th Plan with UNFPA’s close cooperation with the Thai authorities including Thailand International Development Cooperation Agency (TICA) and Ministry of Health.
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