On 20 August 2014, Mr. Narong Sasitorn, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, presided over the opening ceremony of the FEALAC Business Forum, which is one of the side events of the 15th  Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) Senior Officials Meeting. Thailand, as the current East Asia Coordinator of FEALAC, hosts the FEALAC Senior Officials Meeting on 19 - 22 August 2014 at the Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld, Bangkok.

The three side events of the FEALAC meeting are (1) Tourism Seminar (2) FEALAC Business Forum and (3) Academic/STI Roundtable, all events hosted by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in collaboration with  Ministry of Tourism and Sports; the Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking; and Office of the Higher Education Commission respectively.

FEALAC Business Forum, under the theme “Connecting the Two Engines of Global Growth,” is aimed at moving forward the relations and cooperation between East Asia and Latin America. The Forum rigorously encourages the leading role of Thai private sectors while strengthening business connection between the regions. Dr. Surin Pitsuwan and Dr. Narongchai Akrasanee are among group of prominent invited to provide insightful perspectives on inter-regional economic trade and investment activities. Representatives from chambers of commerce, federations of industry and other private sectors were also invited to the event.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also organizing a FEALAC Showcase, consisting of mini exhibition and promotional booths of FEALAC member countries, especially Latin American and East Asian countries, at Eden 1 zone ground floor of the CentralWorld Shopping Complex from 19 – 21 August 2014

FEALAC is an inter-regional cooperation platform. Its 36 member countries (16 from East Asia and 20 from Latin America), together represent 39% of global population, 33% of global GDP and 33% of global trade. In terms of trade and investment figures between Thailand and Latin America, the volume has consistently increased. In 2013, the bilateral trade reached 16 billion US dollars with considerable room for growth bolstered by both sides’ complementary economic structure.