Mr. Surapong Tovichakchaikul, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, is scheduled to head the Thai delegations to the 68th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York during 24th September to 1st October 2013.

The Deputy Prime Minister Surapong will address the General Assembly in its General Debate on 28th September 2013 to share Thailand’s vision and positions on current global issues, such as the situation in Syria and the Middle-East as well as the theme of the Session “The Post-2015 Development Agenda: Setting the Stage!”.

He will also attend a number of important parallel meetings and events organized by other international organizations in New York during this period, for example, the informal ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting with the UN Secrtary-General and the President of the General Assembly, Asian Dialogue Cooperation (ACD) Ministerial Breakfast Meeting. He is also scheduled to participate in the Ministerial Meetings of the Group of 77 (G77), Non-Aligned Movement, and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Since many ministers of foreign affairs of 193 UN member countries will also attend the General Debate of the General Assembly, he will take this good opportunity to have bilateral meetings with various countries to discuss issues of mutual interests, exchange views on global issues of common concerns and at the top of the agenda, as well as to seek support for Thailand’s candidature for a seat in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) during the term 2017-2018. In this connection, he will host a reception to officially launch Thailand’s UNSC candidature on 30th September 2013.