On 15 August 2024, Mr. Wattanawit Gajaseni, Director-General of Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA), welcomed Dr. Julitta Onabanjo, UNFPA Representative for Malaysia and Country Director for Thailand, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The visit aimed to discuss on development cooperation and included the signing of the 2024 Annual Workplan between TICA and UNFPA at TICA.

The Director-General of TICA congratulated Dr. Onabanjo on her recent assumption of duty as the UNFPA Representative for Malaysia and Country Director for UNFPA Thailand. He stressed that UNFPA is a key partner in supporting Thailand to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Director-General reaffirmed TICA’s commitment to continue to partner with UNFPA to advance development cooperation through South-South and triangular cooperation. In response, Dr. Onabanjo praised Thailand’s leadership in development cooperation in multilateral fora. She also recognized Thailand’s graduation from being an aid recipient country to become an upper middle-income and an emerging donor as a “Success Story” that could serve as an inspiration for other developing countries.  She hoped to expand development cooperation with Thailand in other areas such as ageing population society, sexual health in adolescents, including cooperating with Malaysia as the ASEAN Chair next year to share knowledge and experiences on the interesting areas such as gender issues and exploring possibilities for development cooperation between TICA and UNFPA in the East and Southern African regions.

On this occasion, the Director-General of TICA and the Country Director for UNFPA Thailand co-signed the 2024 Annual Workplan between TICA and UNFPA. The workplan aims to promote cooperation through South-South and triangular cooperation in areas including midwifery and maternal and child health in Timor-Leste, sexual and reproductive health in Nepal, and gender-based violence prevention in Lao PDR.