On 22 March 2016, H.E. Mr. Apichart Chinwanno, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended the 2^nd Thailand-UK Strategic Dialogue hosted by the United Kingdom in London. Mr. Chinwanno and Sir Simon McDonald, Permanent Under Secretary and Head of the Diplomatic Service at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office co-chaired the session.

         During the Dialogue, the two sides discussed comprehensively on a number of bilateral issues, particularly the promotion of trade and investment exchanges, education, and consular cooperation. They welcomed the Board of Trade of Thailand’s Action Plan on Trade and Investment Promotion between Thailand and the UK as a framework to further enhance the two-way trade and investment, the upcoming visit to the UK by a prominent Thai business delegation in mid-2016, and the visit to Thailand of Mr. Mark Garnier, the Trade Envoy of the UK Prime Minister.

         The two sides agreed on the expansion of the number of young British Teaching Assistants to teach English in Thailand during summer holidays, strengthened collaboration on vocational training, and increased fund under Newton Thailand-UK Research and Innovation Partnership. The Meeting also discussed consular affairs covering the safety of foreign tourists due to a large number of British tourists in Thailand and facilitation of visa procedures to promote two-way trade, investment, and tourism.

         The Meeting also exchanged views on the latest development in Asia and Europe, including regional and international issues, for example, the latest development in ASEAN, climate change, regional architecture, the situation in Syria, Thailand’s role as G-77 Chair, and Thailand’s candidature for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the term 2017-2018, etc.

         The Strategic Dialogue was established in 2012 as a high-level consultative mechanism between Thailand and the UK to exchange views and chart directions on strengthening both bilateral and multilateral collaboration.