H.E. Mr. Don Pramudwinai, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, is scheduled to attend the
5^th Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) during 27 - 28 April 2016 in Beijing, the People’s Republic of China.

Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) is a multi-national forum for enhancing cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia. The forum was established in 1992, currently comprised of 26 member countries from various part of Asia, and based upon CICA common principle of consensus, non-interference, and voluntarism.

This meeting will be the first meeting at the ministerial level of CICA, scheduled to be held every four years, under the Chairmanship of China. With the main theme of ‘Promoting Peace, Security, Stability and Sustainable Development in Asia through Dialogue among Civilizations”, the meeting will provide an opportunity for member countries to discuss future direction of CICA and to exchange views on various issues of common concern, such as political, security and socio - economic situation in Asia, as well as measures to cope with new challenges, such as transnational crimes and non-traditional threats.

The meeting is expected to jointly adopt a declaration to reaffirm strong political will and determination of member countries in promoting trust and confidence through cooperation in 5 main dimensions, namely military-political dimension, economic dimension, non-traditional threats, environmental dimension, and human dimension.

The Foreign Minister will use the opportunity to highlight Thailand’s constructive role as the chair of Group of 77 (G77) and Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) to further promote peace, stability and sustainable development in Asia. Thailand also stands ready to demonstrate its expertise in drug prevention and control, SMEs development, and sustainable development. Thailand is ready to share the Sufficiency Economy Principle (SEP) as an alternative approach toward achieving sustainable development and as a common vision for CICA. The Minister of Foreign Affairs will also use this opportunity to discuss with other foreign minister on issues of mutual concerns.

Since Thailand joined CICA as the 17^th Member countries in 2004, Thailand has been an active member of the forum. Thailand hosted two Special Working Group –Senior Official Committee meetings in 2007 and 2014, respectively. Thailand is also a co-lead country on economic dimension cooperation and has been active in formulating training courses on drugs prevention and control among member countries.