Mrs. Arunee Hiam, Deputy Director-General of the Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA), was appointed as the representative of the Director-General to attend the 2023 Development Leaders Conference, took place from 24 – 25 October 2023, at Sommerro, Oslo, Norway. The conference was organized by the Center for Global Development (CGD), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad).

The Deputy Director-General of TICA delivered remarks during the session titled “Overcoming the barriers to more effective collaboration between different development cooperation providers,” as invited by the conference organizers. She emphasized that TICA, under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, is the key agency in Thailand for carrying out development cooperation.

The Deputy Director-General of TICA presented 4 key factors that have enabled TICA to gain acceptance and trust from both partner and recipient countries in executing development cooperation work. These factors are as follows:

(1) TICA prioritizes work that focuses on ensuring stability in 4 key areas: food, health, employment, and energy and environment. This is a field in which Thailand has expertise and is ready to exchange and transfer knowledge, particularly in the areas of agriculture, education, environment, public health, and sustainable community development.

(2) Efforts have been made with both donor countries and developing countries under the theme “With Thailand, in Thailand, and for Thailand.” The aim is to promote Thailand's role in the international cooperation arena to support the sustainable development goals by 2030. Notable examples of important partners include United Nations (UN) agencies, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Colombia, Turkey, Peru, Morocco, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Argentina, Australia, and others.

(3) There has been development in the implementation of development cooperation partnerships in various formats based on knowledge exchange, the expansion of trilateral cooperation with consistent partners, and the development of monitoring and evaluation systems. This includes adherence to the 5 criteria for evaluation by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the initiation of the use of a new form of impact assessment, namely the Social Return On Investment (SROI), to demonstrate the value of assistance programs to partners, ensuring the continuity and sustainability of the projects.

(4) This involves promoting the involvement of various sectors such as the private sector and civil society under the concept of “Public-Private Partnership for People (PPPP)” to expedite the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

Furthermore, she provided additional information that TICA is currently in the process of developing an Official Development Assistance (ODA) database system in collaboration with the OECD. The aim is to efficiently collect data in line with international standards and to establish the credibility and accountability of Thailand. Additionally, she highlighted the obstacle that has slowed down the progress of development cooperation partnerships that each organization has different principles in allocating budgets, necessitating time to reach a mutual agreement. She emphasized that the operations of TICA are transparent, trustworthy, and accountable. TICA has received commendation and is in negotiation with several partners to engage in development partnerships. Transparency and accountability were highlighted as key factors that various donor agencies at the meeting emphasized as crucial elements of the mutual agreement in implementing development cooperation work together.

The aforementioned conference is a significant international platform with objectives that include exploring how to create a more collaborative, effective, and innovative development cooperation system, addressing current barriers to deeper collaboration across different types of development cooperation providers, and maximizing the impact of development finance in an environment of constrained budgets. The gathering will bring together heads of development agencies and senior management of selected development institutions to share perspectives on common challenges, potential solutions, and opportunities to support global sustainable development.