On 16 October 2014, Mr. Chutintorn Gongsakdi, Director-General of Department of International Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, represented the Kingdom of Thailand in the World Investment Forum 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland, held by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), under the theme of sustainable development.  As a co-chair of the prestigious discussion on “Reform of International Investment Agreements Regime”, together with representatives from the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the European Commission and South Africa, and a lead discussant, DG Chutintorn called for UNCTAD to ensure smooth transitions from early to new generations of international investment agreements.  He also pointed out challenges arisen from interpretation of early generations of investment agreements in the present international investment context and gave some suggestions on how to tackle them, particularly with the role of UNCTAD. 

After the conference, DG Chutintorn met up with UNCTAD’s Director of Investment and Enterprise Division to discuss UNCTAD’s technical assistance in building up Thailand’s capacity in international investment agreement and dispute prevention policies. DG Chutintorn also had bilateral discussions with the Director of the External Relations Secretariat and the Director of the Development Centre, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris on Thailand’s Country Partnership Programme to assist Thailand in overcoming middle income traps.