In the evening of Friday 13 November 2009, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya accompanied the Prime Minister of Thailand to the “Dine Around Singapore” event organized by the Young Presidents’ Organization and the Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC). On this occasion, the Prime Minister delivered a keynote address aimed at generating better understanding and increased confidence among the top business leaders in attendance. He outlined the satisfactory outcome of the government’s response to the global financial crisis, in particular the twin stimulus packages, as well as Thailand’s potential for more stable and sustained economic growth and in that context, the country’s readiness to receive foreign trade and investment.
In the morning of Saturday 14 November 2009, Foreign Minister Kasit accompanied the Prime Minister to the APEC CEO Summit session on “Are our present models of regionalism such as APEC and ASEAN adequate?” The Prime Minister of Thailand shared the stage to discuss this issue with President Felipe Calderon of Mexico and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia.
The Prime Minister’s remarks covered the following points.
- There is a shift in the balance of power towards the Asia-Pacific region, a higher level of economic interdependence among economies and the emergence of regional cooperation initiatives in the region and around the world.
- The global economic crisis has called for a rethinking of the most effective and efficient form of regional integration to facilitate better flow of economic activity within the region.
- To determine whether or not the present models of regionalism are adequate, there are a set of questions to answer. Are the existing structures adequately serving the needs arising from challenges facing the region? If yes, is there a linkage to ensure that all these structures will work complimentarily? Finally, acceptability to stakeholders.
- Existing structures, comprising APEC, ASEAN + 3, East Asia Summit (EAS), ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) are meeting their needs well. However, in the absence of a pan Asia-Pacific architecture, there is a need for good linkage among these existing structures to ensure that they work complementarily.
- As ASEAN is at the hub of the majority of these structures, ASEAN has a central role to play (i.e. ASEAN centrality) in determining the focus and agenda of these fora and therefore help shape the future of regional integration in the Asia-Pacific. Nevertheless, the door is never closed to consideration of other proposals.
In the afternoon of the same day, the Prime Minister will attend Retreat Session I of the 17th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting (AELM) where Leaders will discuss “Connecting the Region”. This event will be followed by the Leaders’ Dialogue with the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC).
On Sunday 15 November 2009, APEC Economic Leaders will discuss “Sustaining Growth” at Retreat Session II.
Following the conclusion of the 21st AELM, the Prime Minister of Thailand will co-chair the 1st ASEAN-US Leaders’ Meeting with President Barack Obama of the United States of America.
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