On 20 March 2025, Mrs. Arunee Hiam, Deputy Director-General of Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA), representing the Director-General of TICA, attended the 2025 Development Assistance Committee (DAC) High Level Meeting at the OECD Conference Centre in Paris, France.

The DAC High-Level Meeting is a senior officer-level forum convened biennially or triennially for the DAC member countries. The DAC, under the OECD, plays a crucial role in establishing standards and guidelines for development assistance to developing nations.

This year’s meeting drew participants from over 50 countries, including DAC members, non-DAC OECD members, DAC participants, OECD accession countries, and OECD key partners. Additionally, more than 10 international organizations and non-governmental partners, such as the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, as well as representatives from the Global North and the Global Sooth were also present.

Participants at the 2025 DAC High-Level Meeting underscored the urgent need to strengthen development cooperation and enhance the effectiveness of Official Development Assistance (ODA). They emphasized building "whole-of-society" partnerships, mobilizing private finance, and supporting domestic resource mobilization to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The meeting also called for the DAC to develop a renewed narrative on development cooperation through global solidarity, framing it as a long-term global investment in a more prosperous, sustainable, peaceful, and secure world.

Prior to the meeting, the bilateral discussion was held between the Deputy Director-General of TICA and Ms. Pilar GARRIDO, Director of the OECD’s Development Co-operation Directorate (DCD), the DAC secretariat. Ms. Garrido commended TICA for its active role in international development cooperation and the ODA voluntary report. Both parties agreed to collaborate on the next activities under the second phase of the Country Programme (CP) between Thailand and the OECD, including refining monitoring and evaluation mechanisms and enhancing Thailand’s ODA reporting for greater efficiency and comprehensiveness.

Furthermore, they discussed the possibility to expand collaborative efforts in international development cooperation, focusing on promoting South-South and triangular cooperation. This expansion will be facilitated through co-organized regional meetings to share Thailand’s experiences and best practices with emerging donor countries. They also discussed Thailand’s potential participation in the OECD DAC Peer Review process to enhance its role within the DAC.