On 15 December 2015, H.E. Mr. Gilles Garachon, Ambassador of France to Thailand, paid a courtesy call on H.E. Mr. Apichart Chinwanno, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the occasion of assuming his duty in Thailand.

On this occasion, the Permanent Secretary expressed his gratitude to the Ambassador and diplomats from the French Embassy for their participation in the “Bike for Dad” event on 11 December 2015. The French Ambassador thanked the Thai government for organizing such event, and was highly impressed to see enormous crowd gathering to pay their respect to His Majesty the King and members of the Royal Family.

The Permanent Secretary also expressed his appreciation to France for welcoming Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha and the Thai delegation during the 21st Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) in Paris from 30 November – 11 December 2015. The Permanent Secretary commended French Foreign Minister, Mr. Laurent Fabius, for his dedication and the achievement of the Paris Agreement.

The French Ambassador expressed his appreciation for the condolences from Thai society after the November 2015 Paris attacks. He thanked the Prime Minister for his trip to the memorial and his bouquet of flowers in paying respect to the victims of the attacks.

They then exchanged views on how to further expand the bilateral relations between the two countries. The French Ambassador affirmed his commitment to the promotion of Thai-France relations in all aspects such as economy, trade, science, technology and innovation, education, and culture.