On 6 July 2026, Lt. Sorawud Preededilok, Minister attached to Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA), delivered opening remarks for the Third Country Training Programme (TCTP) on Road Asset Management (Batch 3), together with Mr. SAKUDO Shunsuke, Chief Representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Thailand Office, and Mr. Pongpan Junngern, Deputy Director-General for Engineering of the Department of Highways (DOH).

The training programme is jointly organized by Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), under the Thailand–Japan cooperation framework, in collaboration with the Department of Highways (DOH), Ministry of Transport of Thailand, serving as an implementing agency. This course has been held from 6 to 24 July 2026, the programme bridges 21 participants from ASEAN and BIMSTEC member countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Timor-Leste, and Thailand. It aims to strengthen participants’ capacities in road asset management in support of SDG 9 on Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure and SDG 17 on Partnerships for the Goals.

Lt. Sorawud expressed his appreciation to JICA and DOH for their close collaboration in organizing the programme. He highlighted the importance of roads and bridges as key infrastructure supporting an inclusive development in economic and social development, and also encouraged participants to strengthen the networks and actively participate in exchanging knowledge and experiences throughout the programme, with the outcomes that they would disseminate the knowledge and experiences to enhance road asset management and promote sustainable transport development in their respective countries.