On 17 May 2010, Mr. Panich Vikitsreth, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, as Head of Thailand’s delegation to the 66th Session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), held at Songdo CONVENSIA in Incheon, the Republic of Korea, attended the opening ceremony of the ESCAP Ministerial Meeting.
The theme of the 66th Session of the ESCAP was “Addressing challenges in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals: Promoting a stable and supportive financial system; and Green Growth or environmentally sustainable economic growth, including technology and financing.”
After attending the opening ceremony and the Ministerial roundtable discussion, Vice Foreign Minister Panich delivered a statement on “Connectivity in the Region” during a luncheon hosted by the ESCAP Executive Secretary.
Vice Foreign Minister Panich congratulated the ESCAP on the launch of “Regional Connectivity for Shared Prosperity.” He emphasized Thailand’s full support to the “High-Level Task Force on ASEAN Connectivity (HLTF-AC)” which would draft a final report of Master Plan encompassing the development of physical infrastructure such as road, air, IT telecommunication and mobility of people. Thailand agreed that connectivity would bring the economic benefits and contribute to the strengthening of regional collaboration in pushing forward other areas of cooperation such as tourism, cultural, information exchanges, and energy. Vice Foreign Minister Panich also noted that the harmonization of relevant rules and regulations would facilitate peoples to travel within the region more easily, while goods are efficiently transported and could enhance intra-regional trade and investment. With regard to people-to-people connectivity, Thailand supports people’s participation in the political, economic, and social systems. Furthermore, the development of information communication and technology is viewed as important means that would provide people equal opportunities to access knowledge and information, and also improve quality of life as well as regional integration. Vice Foreign Minister Panich took this opportunity to reaffirm Thailand’s commitment to collaborate with the ESCAP and ASEAN on connectivity to achieve inclusive and sustainable developments in region as well.
Later, Vice Foreign Minister Panich had a corridor meeting with Ms. Chinami Nishimura, Parliamentary Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan. The Japanese side expressed concern about the political situation in Thailand and asked for the progress of investigation on the death of a Japanese cameraman on 10 April 2010. Vice Foreign Minister Panich briefed his Japanese counterpart on the latest situation in Thailand and reiterated the Royal Thai Government’s determination to investigate the cause of death of the Japanese media, which is a part of the Government’s reconciliation plan to investigate the deaths and injuries cases connecting with the protests. Thailand attaches to the significant of relationship with Japan and the Thai Government will try its best to resolve the current political situation peacefully.
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