On 27 November 2023, Mrs. Ureerat Chareontoh, Director-General of Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA) had a meeting with Ms. Mary Anne A. Padua, Chairperson-Alternate of the Technical Cooperation Council of the Philippines (TCCP). She was pleased to meet Chairperson-Alternate of TCCP at the 5th Asia-Pacific Directors-General Forum for South-South and Triangular Cooperation in Bangkok and encouraged both sides to resume all pending activities due to the COVID-19 Pandemics as they were agreed since the 4th Consultations on Development Cooperation between Thailand and the Philippines in 2019 in Laguna, the Philippines. Director-General of TICA proposed to host the 5th Consultations on Development Cooperation between Thailand and the Philippines in Thailand before the 6th Thai-Filipino Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) meeting which is scheduled to be held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand in 2024.

Both sides shared views on development cooperation particularly human resources development extended to other developing countries bilaterally and trilaterally, with the Development Partners such as USAID and UNFPA. Possible areas were raised for trilateral cooperation in third countries especially Timor-Leste, such as maternal and child health care, and vocational skills training. The Chairperson-Alternate of TCCP was also interested in implementing agricultural projects for Timor-Leste, such as processing agricultural products such as sea fish and bananas and growing nutritionally beneficial crops such as cassava and sweet potatoes. The Director-General of TICA recommended TCCP to utilize TICA’s project applying the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP) in Hera, Timor-Leste, as a learning base for Timor-Leste farmers.

Chairperson-Alternate of TCCP expressed her interest and impression towards TICA’s development cooperation projects, for instance, the Friends From Thailand (FFT) programme, community model applying the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP) and School Lunch programme in Timor-Leste, and the Thai-Kenya Agricultural Technology Learning Center. The Director-General of TICA offered an organizing of study visit on SEP for the Filipino delegates during the 5th Consultations on Development Cooperation between two countries next year.