On 17 June 2022, Mr. Cheevindh Nathalang, Deputy Director-General of Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended the Regional Forum on “Mekong-RoK Cooperation Seeking Synergies in the Mekong Sub-reion” co-hosted by Mekong Institute (MI) and the Embassy of the Republic of Korea (ROK) in Thailand, via online. The meeting was held in a hybrid modality at the Shangri-La Hotel. The Representatives from the Development Partners, e.g. ROK, Japan, USA, Australia, India as well as academic and private sectors were presented at the meeting.

The meeting’s objective is to assess the current status and direction of Mekong Sub-regional cooperation frameworks and to identify recommendations on potential synergies among Development Partners (DPs) and Mekong countries. The meeting noted that, at present, no country could tackle the challenges alone. It is imperative that DPs and countries in the Sub-region should enhance synergies for cooperation in effective way in order to converge to targets, may it be Mekong River management, economic development, non-traditional threats and various development issues. The meeting recommended that it needs strong leadership and commitment of Mekong countries to drive home-grown Mekong initiatives and to seek for Development Partners. The meeting also acknlowledged the importance of maintaining the cooperation mechanisms of Mekong Sub-region, especially ACMECS as well as effective data management for benefit of Mekong countries.

On this occasion, the Deputy Director-General took part as a panelist in a Panel Discussion entitled “Sustainable Development in Mekong Region”. He reaffirmed the meeting of the great Importance Thailand attaches to the relations and cooperation with countries in Mekong Sub-region. He also shared the meeting that Thailand pledges to play a role in building bridges between countries in Sub-region and DPs to advance sustainable development through development cooperation, especially in the areas where Thailand has expertise. TICA as Thailand’s main agency of development cooperation adopts its current development policy towards preparation for social and economic recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Policy is focused on Security and Resilence in 4 areas namely; Health Security, Food Security, Job Security and Energy/Environment Security as well as development cooperation based on the application of Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEPs) as they would serve for balanced and sustainable development and help promote countries in Mekong Sub-region to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.