On 4 June 2024, Mr. Wattanawit Kajaseni, Director-General of Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA), along with Ms. Chidchanok Malayawong, Director of Development Promotion and Coordination Division, Mrs. Charintip Yosthasan, Director of International Development Cooperation Division and staff from TICA, welcomed a delegation of Ambasadaors from Group of Latin America and Caribbean (GRULAC), namely;

(1) H.E. Mr. José Borges dos Santos Júnior, Ambassador of the Federative Republic of Brazil and Dean of the GRULAC,

(2) H.E. Ms. Cecilia Zunilda Galarreta Bazán, Ambassador of the Republic of Peru,
(3) H.E. Mr. Gustavo Alberto Martino, Ambassador of the Argentine Republic,

(4) H.E. Mr. Pedro Pablo San Jorge Rodriguez, Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba,

(5) H.E. Mrs. Shirley Dennise Aguilar Barrera, Ambassador of the Republic of Guatemala,

(6) H.E. Mrs. IIse Lilián Ferrer Silya, Ambassador of the United Mexican States,

(7) Mr. David Hansen, Chargé d'Affaires a.i., the Republic of Chile,

(8) Mr. Harold Randy Hayle Hernández, Chargé d'Affaires a.i., the Republic of Panama, and

(9) Mr. Andrés Leonardo Suárez Galvis, Second Secretary, the Republic of Colombia.

On this occasion, the Director-General of TICA shared history of TICA’s establishment, changing Thailand's role from a recipient to an emerging donor country through bilateral development cooperation with the developing countries and partnership cooperation with other donors on a trilateral basis, either North-South-South or South-South-South Cooperation. He also gave an overview on forms of activities such as development projects, sending Thai experts and volunteers, providing post-graduate scholarships and trainings in Thailand.  He highlighted Thailand's current development cooperation policy aiming to promote the application of Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy Model and the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP) as the tools to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 and as a guideline for development cooperation between Thailand and the Latin American and Caribbean regions.  In addition, he confirmed the continuation of cooperation between Thailand and Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Peru under the 3-year Development Cooperation Programme and expressed his willing to have concrete cooperation with Brazil, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico and Panama.

The GRULAC Ambassadors standed ready to deepening development cooperation with Thailand under bilateral and trilateral framework of South – South Cooperation.  Moreover, both sides agreed to collaborate in supporting sector to economics and exchanging technical knowledge in various sectors, namely; agriculture, food security, climate change, public health, tourism, SMEs, and other areas of mutual interests.