On 23 May 2024, Mrs. Arunee Hiam, Deputy Director-General, Acting Director General of Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA), welcomed Mr. Hayakawa Yuho, Director-General of Southeast Asia and Pacific Department, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and JICA’s officers.  Ms. Chidchanok Malayawong, Director of Development Promotion and Coordination Division including TICA and JICA officers also attended the meeting at Reception Room 4, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand.

On this occasion, both sides discussed the future cooperation between Thailand and Japan at bilateral and trilateral levels including dispatching Thai volunteers to Japan under Friends From Thailand (FFT) programme, evaluation of the Third Country Training Program (TCTP) that both sides had co-organized for other developing countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Africa for some times, and JICA’ s initiative in conducting the International Conference between the emerging donor countries in ASEAN by August or September 2024 and inviting TICA and the Neighbouring Countries Economic Development Cooperation Agency (NEDA) to participate. Furthermore, the Director-General of Southeast Asia and Pacific Department, JICA, welcomed Thailand’s decision to apply for a membership to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).  He believed that Thailand could contribute and play a vital role greatly in this global forum among other key development partners.