On Wednesday 11 November 2009, the first day of the 21st APEC Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in Singapore, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya conveyed the following specific Thai viewpoints to the gathering of Asia-Pacific ministers.
He strongly endorsed APEC’s adoption of a different post-crisis economic growth model, which is balanced, inclusive and sustainable — more balanced in terms of balance between savings and expenditure, more inclusive of all sectors of all economies and more sustainable both economically and environmentally. Such thinking reflects APEC’s ability to learn from the current financial and economic crisis, adapt its thinking and refine its agenda. This reflects very well on APEC’s realism and maturity as a forum. He also offered to share Thailand’s experience with His Majesty the King’s sufficiency economy doctrine and Royal Development Projects with other APEC developing economies.
As an economy that was at the center of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Thailand had been pursuing an APEC agenda that includes strengthening social safety nets and economic and technical cooperation or ECOTECH, to ensure that APEC’s economic growth model, driven predominantly by trade and investment liberalization, is more balanced and resilient. APEC’s social resilience agenda now reflects what Thailand had been pushing all along.
In looking towards the future, Ministers discussed the possibility of linking existing FTAs, extending strongest support for the WTO Doha Round and Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, strategies for dealing with the global financial crisis and enhancing connectivity. With regard to connectivity, Foreign Minister Kasit proposed that air and sea links be made to be more convenient and less costly.
While recognizing the valuable role that the private sector can play through enhanced corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, the Foreign Minister emphasized that transparency, good governance and support for SMEs were also necessary.
In terms of bilateral relations, Minister Kasit met with the Hon. Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State and the Hon. Stephen Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Australia.
Thailand welcomes the re-engagement of the U.S. in Asia and looks forward to engaging the U.S. bilaterally and regionally on various fronts. These include exchanges of visits, multifaceted cooperation, including follow-up on the US-Lower Mekong Countries Initiative.
With Australia, Minister Kasit discussed political, economic and social issues of interest, including exchanges of visits, illegal immigration/human smuggling/trafficking, reinforcing different initiatives/linking FTAs and the G20 process.
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