On 18 June 2010, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya visited the headquarters of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya and held discussions with Under-Secretary-General Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director and Director-General of the United Nations Offices in Nairobi (UNON).
During their meeting, the Foreign Minister reiterated the importance attached by Thailand to the work of the United Nations in general and the UNEP in particular. On the issue of the environment, he informed Under-Secretary-General Steiner of the Royal Thai Government’s policy of promoting both the Green Economy and the Creative Economy, noting that the Kingdom was moving away from simple manufacturing industries towards a low-carbon society and a more knowledge-based economy to increase competitiveness and achieve sustainable development.
The Royal Thai Government had also prioritized the issues of water management and climate change. In this regard, the Government has followed His Majesty the King’s Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy which stresses, among others, the importance of equitable and sustainable growth. Thailand also stands ready to extend developmental cooperation to other developing countries as part of its foreign policy and commitment to the Millennium Development Goals and South-South Co-operation.
Towards this end, Thailand has been playing a more active role within the framework of the United Nations, particularly on humanitarian issues and was now an emerging donor country. The Thai Permanent Representative to UNEP has also been instructed to work closely with UNEP on such issues as reforming the international environmental governance (IEG) so that it takes into account the balance between the three pillars of sustainable development (economy, environment and society) as well as improves coherence between UNEP and other existing multilateral environment agreements.
During the visit, Under-Secretary-General Steiner also took the Foreign Minister to visit the construction site of UNEP’s new offices within the United Nations compound in Nairobi.
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