During 1-3 June 2013, Mr. Jullapong Nonsrichai, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, led the Thai delegation to attend the Fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V) in Yokohama, Japan.

TICAD is organized once quinquennially under the sponsorship of the Government of Japan, and co-hosted by the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and for the first time, the African Union Commission (AUC). It is a gathering of over 40 leaders and heads of states of African countries, with the participation from United Nations and other international organizations, as well as representatives from donor countries, including civil society and the private sector.

Organized under the theme “Hand in Hand with a More Dynamic Africa – Transformation for Quality Growth”, TICAD V aimed to lay a framework for fostering aid and assistance for Africa to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. The Yokohama Action Plan for the next five years focuses on promoting African ownership and inclusive international participation to bring about sustainable economy, resilient society, peace and stability to the African continent. Emphasis has been given to human security issues including the acceleration of famine and poverty eradication, health and education reform, and natural disaster management and responses to climate change.

On 2 June 2013 during his attendance at the Conference’s Thematic Session V on “Development and Humanitarian Assistance”, Vice Minister Jullapong expressed Thailand’s determination to enhance cooperation with Africa under its “Look West Policy” and the Thai-African Initiative. He reiterated to the importance Thailand attaches to cooperation with Africa through technical assistance in the forms scholarships for higher education, fellowships for training, and joint development projects in the country’s areas of expertise such as agriculture, fishery, of healthcare and rural development. The cooperation highly focuses on human resource development and the application of sufficiency economy theory to development projects. 

The Vice Minister also met with the Foreign Ministers of Ethiopia (Chairperson of the African Union), Comoros and Mauritania, as well as Egypt’s Presidential Advisor to the New Partnership for African’s Development (NEPAD).

In addition, Thailand joined the exhibition on the sidelines of TICAD V to promote its development cooperation with Africa and distributed publications on the work of Thailand International Development Cooperation Agency.