On 10 September 2014, Mr. Sihasak Puangketkaew, Permanent Secretary, together with Mr. Nissim Ben Shitrit, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel, jointly presided over the 8th Meeting of Thailand – Israel Working Group Dialogue at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  High-level delegations from both sides also attended the Meeting. The WGD is a forum for consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Thailand and Israel at the level of deputy permanent secretary/director-general.  However, since the year 2014 marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Thailand and Israel, the level of the co-chairs for this Meeting has been elevated to the level of permanent secretary to celebrate the special occasion.

During the Meeting, both sides discussed and exchanged views on regional issues, such as the ASEAN Community 2015 and developments in the Middle East, as well as bilateral issues in various areas, such as economic and trade opportunities, labour, technical cooperation, science and technology, culture and education.

Afterward, the Permanent Secretary and the Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel, signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Development Cooperation Program between Thailand International Development Cooperation Agency (TICA) and Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV)

This MoU serves as the framework of development cooperation between Thailand and Israel, as well as the trilateral cooperation of Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Myanmar in the area of agriculture focus on human resource development. The training course on Greenhouse Crop Production and Management at the Agricultural Technology Complex, Kasetsart University, Kamphaeng Saen Campus will commence in the first quarter of 2015 as the first activity under this MoU.

This MoU is the result of the discussion between the Director - General of Thailand International Development Cooperation Agency and Head of Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV), Ministry of Foreign Affairs,                           at the 7th Thailand – Israel Working Group Dialogue at Jerusalem, Israel, to extend development cooperation between Thailand and Israel to support Thailand’s neighboring countries (Lao PDR, Cambodia and Myanmar) in the areas of agricultural technology, irrigation, water resource management, early childhood education and other areas that are mutual agreed.