On 20 April 2015, General Tanasak Patimapragon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, attended the Asian-African Ministerial Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Meeting, co-chaired by the Foreign Ministers of Indonesia and South Africa, discussed about the three pillars of New Asian-African Strategic Partnership (NAASP) including the Political Solidarity, Economic Cooperation, and Social and Cultural Cooperation. The Meeting also exchanged views under the framework of the NAASP especially on the development issues which are still remaining challenges for countries in Asia and Africa. The Meeting underlined the importance of strengthening South-South Cooperation to enhance collaborations between the two continents in order to promote world peace and prosperity.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs delivered a statement commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Bandung Conference which Thailand, one of the founding members, was represented at the inaugural session by His Royal Highness Prince Wan Waithyakon, the then Foreign Minister. He also reiterated Thailand’s commitment to the NAASP and to the promotion of Asia-African relation under the South-South Cooperation in realizing the common goals of stability, prosperity, and sustainability. He also expressed Thailand’s readiness to promote technical cooperation among Asian and African countries and especially in sharing Thailand’s experiences and know-how on sufficiency economy philosophy of His Majesty Bhumibol Adulyadej.

On the same day, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs also had a bilateral meeting with H.E. Mahendra Bahadur Pandey, Foreign Minister of Nepal. Their topics of discussion included how to strengthening Thailand-Nepal collaborations on development and people-to-people relation. Regarding development, Nepal expressed its aspiration to have Thailand as its development partner. Thailand welcomed and reaffirmed its readiness to continue and promote technical cooperation with Nepal, especially regarding human resource development and capacity building in the fields that Nepal is interested in to advance the country’s sustainable development. At present, Thailand provides a number of scholarships and training courses as well as experts to Nepal under the two countries human resource development cooperation scheme. As for people-to-people relation, the two countries agreed to enhance exchange visits of its people. General Tanasak also expressed his gratitude to Nepal Government for its hospitality by facilitating over 20,000 Thai people visiting Lumbini for Buddhist pilgrimage trip annually.

After the Meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs attended the Gala dinner hosted by the Foreign Minister of Indonesia.