On 26 September 2009, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya attended the UNGA session where Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva delivered his statement to the General Assembly. The Prime Minister highlighted the importance of the “sufficiency economy” philosophy of His Majesty the King which is widely recognized internationally. The Royal Thai Government’s socio-economic policy was also guided by His Majesty’s philosophy. As ASEAN Chairman, the Prime Minister underlined the importance of ASEAN and stressed on key developments including ASEAN Charter, the forthcoming implementation of Chiang Mai Initiative, and the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) among others. As a major food exporting country, the Prime Minister reiterated Thailand’s readiness to contribute to the solution of the world food crisis. He also congratulated UNSG on timely initiative with regard to the discussion on the issue of climate change. He also mentioned that Thailand would play host to the UN talk on the subject next week. The Prime Minister also took the opportunity to highlight Thailand’s candidatures for 2010-2013 UN Human Rights Council and a non-permanent seat of the UN Security Council for the term 2017-2018.
Later in the afternoon, the Thai Foreign Minister chaired the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting with the Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary-General, and Dr. Ali Abdussalam Treki, President of the UN General Assembly. The Meeting exchanged views on the cooperation between ASEAN and UN on various subjects. The Meeting also discussed about the 3rd ASEAN-UN Summit which is scheduled to be held in Vietnam in 2010.
Prior to the meeting with the UN side, Foreign Minister Kasit also chaired the Informal ASEAN Ministerial Meeting. The Meeting endorsed the draft Declaration on the Inauguration of ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) for submission to the leaders. They also reiterated member countries’ commitment to launch the AICHR and have its first introductory meeting at the sidelines of the 15th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits in Cha-am Hua Hin next month. Foreign Minister Kasit took the opportunity to update his ASEAN counterparts on the latest developments of the preparation for the upcoming ASEAN Summit.
On the same day, Foreign Minister Kasit met with Mr. Maxime Verhagen, Foreign Minister of the Netherlands and Dr. Dipu Moni, Foreign Minister of Bangladesh to exchange views on the issues of interest and prospect for further cooperation which include the seeking experiences of the Netherlands with regard to political development and civic participation as well as discussed on the promotion of future connectivity with Bangladesh.
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