General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, is scheduled to attend the ASEAN – ROK Commemorative Summit to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the ASEAN – ROK Dialogue Relations on 11 – 12 December 2014 in Busan, Republic of Korea (ROK).

The Meeting will focus on reviewing and charting future direction of ASEAN-ROK cooperation, as well as exchange of views on regional and international issues, such as non-traditional security issues, climate change, and disaster management. On this occasion, the Leaders will adopt the Joint Statement of the ASEAN – ROK Commemorative Summit on the 25th Anniversary of the ASEAN – ROK Dialogue Relations: Our Future Vision of ASEAN – ROK Strategic Partnership under the theme “Building Trust, Bringing Prosperity and Sharing Happiness.”

In addition, the Prime Minister will participate in the ASEAN – ROK CEO Summit as a Special Speaker on 11 December 2014. He will address the current and future economic trends, including the role of Asia as the driving force for global growth and cooperation. Thailand’s economic policy and measures will also be highlighted.

ASEAN and the ROK established sectoral dialogue relations in 1989 before it was elevated to a strategic partnership level in 2010. In 2012, ASEAN has become the second largest trading partner of the ROK, with two-way trade amounted to USD 135 billion and foreign direct investment flow from the ROK to ASEAN reached USD 3.8 billion. In the area of tourism, ASEAN is the top tourist destination for Koreans, with 6.5 million Korean tourists having visited to ASEAN last year. At the 16th ASEAN-ROK Summit in 2013, both sides agreed to redouble efforts to achieve the trade target of USD 150 billion by 2015 and USD 200 billion by 2020.