His Highness Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates paid an official visit to Thailand during 11 – 12 May 2016 as guest of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, and co-chaired the 1st Meeting of Joint Commission on Economic, Trade and Technical Cooperation between Thailand and the UAE with His Excellency Mr. Don Pramudwinai, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand.

The 1st Thai – UAE JC Meeting served as a forum for Thai and Emirati agencies to discuss ways and means to further foster cooperation as well as to review current cooperation, and charter plans to enhance relations between the two countries. The Meeting yielded a fruitful discussion on the issue of mutual interests in various fields with some of the notable cooperation include

• the establishment of Thailand – UAE Business Council to promote trade and investment opportunities for private sectors from both countries,
• the cooperation in the field of energy and food security; the UAE as oil and petroleum product supplier to Thailand and Thailand as food and agroproduct supplier to the UAE,
• the promotion of tourism including medical tourism,
• the protection of Thai workers in the UAE.
• security and defense
• education
• agricultural cooperation, where the UAE expressed interest in learning and sharing experiences with Thailand in the Royal Rain Making Project

Following the Meeting, both sides signed the Agreed Minutes and Memorandum of Understanding on Political Consultation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates. Such signing reflects the commitment and willingness between the two countries to move forward cooperation in various fields of mutual interest, both at bilateral and multilateral levels.

On this occasion, His Highness paid a courtesy call on His Excellency General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of Thailand, and had a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand. Both sides discussed ways and means to further foster cooperation through highlighting economic potentials, investment opportunity. Thailand expressed readiness to support the UAE in food security, while the UAE stands ready to support the UAE in energy security. They also discussed the possibility to work together in promoting regional and international technical cooperation under trilateral cooperation to support other developing countries in needed areas of cooperation.

Furthermore, both sides concurred that Thailand and the UAE can serve as each other's gateways: Thailand as the UAE’s gateway to ASEAN, and the UAE as Thailand’s gateway to the Middle East and Central Asia.