On 2 July 2013, Mr. Sihasak Phuangketkeow, Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Thailand, represented Thailand at the 3rd East Asia Summit (EAS) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, and shared Thailand’s views at the Meeting on a wide range of issues.

The Permanent Secretary highlighted the following key strategic issues that should be given priority on the EAS Agenda.

While the geo-economic trend in Asia appears increasingly positive, the evolving strategic relationship in the region has made the geo-political landscape more complex and uncertain.  There is thus a need for the EAS participating countries to help balance and manage these trends.

EAS participating countries should work closely together toward seamless links and connectivity of all forms – road, rail, air, and maritime – to connect capitals, mega-cities, urban and rural areas as well as people-to-people contact, which in turn would help spread growth and narrow development gap in the region.  He reiterated Thailand’s commitment to play a proactive role in enhancing regional connectivity to unleash enormous economic potentials and bring about dynamic growth across East Asia.  He noted the need for mobilization of resources and participation of the private sector and welcomed proposals from China on regional financing platform for infrastructure development and Australia on setting up an EAS Connectivity Forum.  He also stressed the importance of harmonizing rules and regulations on movements across borders, which must go hand in hand with infrastructure development, and invited EAS participating countries to attend the EAS Regulatory Roundtable, to be co-hosted by Thailand and New Zealand in Bangkok on 18 July 2013, as a follow-up to the EAS Declaration on ASEAN Connectivity.

EAS participating countries should be better prepared to deal with the downside of connectivity, especially transnational crimes such as human trafficking, drugs, and cyber crimes.  Permanent Secretary Sihasak encouraged countries across the region to promote greater awareness, step up information and intelligence sharing and capacity building, and enhance coordination of law enforcement agencies.  He also reaffirmed Thailand’s readiness to work with EAS partners in these areas.

The EAS needs to strive toward inclusive and sustainable growth.  The Permanent Secretary believed that health is a major challenge for development and looked forward to cooperate with EAS partners to promote better healthcare system and access to affordable medicines.  He also noted the importance of food and energy security, which has become a more relevant and urgent issue as East Asia becomes more industrialized and urbanized.  He reiterated Thailand’s commitment to working with EAS partners on the promotion of food security and the development of renewable and alternative energy, conservation, and green technology.

EAS participating countries need to collaborate more closely on climate change.  Permanent Secretary Sihasak noted that East Asia is prone to numerous disasters and has suffered from unpredictable weather patterns.  He therefore urged EAS participating countries to strengthen cooperation in emergency preparedness and disaster management, especially to develop an integrated and more accurate region-wide weather forecast system, to be part of a more comprehensive early warning system.

On the future direction of the EAS, the Permanent Secretary advised that the EAS should try to complement what was already being done in the other ASEAN-led processes such as ASEAN+1, ASEAN+3 and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF),  in order to avoid duplication of activities.