On 27 November 2023, Mrs. Ureerat Chareontoh, Director-General of Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA) had a bilateral meeting with Mr. Hwang Jae Sang, Director General, Development Strategy and Portfolio Management Department, Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), during the 5th Asia-Pacific Directors General Forum for South-South and Triangular Cooperation convened between 27-28 November 2023 at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand.

Both sides discussed the current development cooperation between Thailand and South Korea. In this regard, Director-General of TICA appreciated KOICA’s active role, especially after the assignment of Country Director of KOICA Thailand Office. As a result of constructive collaboration, many new concrete initiatives were established so far, including the signing of the 4th Action Plan between TICA and KOICA (2023-2025), covering areas of cooperation that truly benefit both Thailand and South Korea such as Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI), Water Resource Management, Fishery, Human Resource Development (HRD), and other sectors. Apart from the cooperation under the 4th Action Plan, Korean advisors will be dispatched to Thailand under the World Friends Korea (WFK) Programme.

Additionally, the Co-Forming Project, a new type of Thailand-South Korea technical cooperation project of which the Thai side’s 2 project proposals in Environment and Reemerging disease sectors were preliminarily approved, is also subject to implemented in 2025. Mr. Hwang Jae Sang stated that the development cooperation between Thailand and South Korea includes both bilateral and trilateral modalities, which makes it unique compared to South Korea’s cooperation with other partners, which is only in bilateral modality.

Reiterating the importance of Human Resource Development, especially labour skill enhancement, the Director-General of TICA discussed the possibility of the cooperation between TICA, KOICA, and International Institute for Skill Development (IISD) located in Chiang Saen District, Chiang Rai Province, to collaborate on skill development of labours from Thailand, and Southeast Asian, all of which could potentially meet the demand of Korean labour market. To inspire KOICA more, TICA could submit a Concept Note for KOICA’s consideration, and will invite the Country Director of KOICA Thailand Office to visit IISD to explore possibilities. Mr. Hwang Jae Sang, highly interested in this initiative, and viewed it as a mutual benefit to both sides in a way that not only employment rate in the Southeast Asian region is increased, but also demands of the Korean labour market is served. In this regard, Mr. Hwang Jae Sang will consult this initiative with KOICA Headquarter further.

On the occasion that the Director-General of TICA accepted the invitation to attend the 2023 Busan Global Partnership Forum during 4-7 December 2023 in Seoul, which is an international symposium where development cooperation policies are exchanged in order to realise the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 together, she would also like to pay a courtesy call on the President of KOICA to discuss cooperation of both sides and ways forward.