On 20 February 2017, Mr. Nopporn Adchariyavanich, Ambassador of Thailand to Sri Lanka, met with Mr. Mangala Samaraweera, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, to hand over a cheque at the amount of 8,496,176.72 Sri Lankan rupees (approximately 2,000,000 baht) which is the donation from the Royal Thai Government as a disaster relief from the upcoming drought in Sri Lanka, particularly the expected shortage of food and water in the next 1-2 months.

On this occasion, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka extended his heartfelt appreciation to Thailand, which is the first country that rendered financial aid to Sri Lanka for tackling the upcoming drought crisis, and will inform H.E. Maithripala Sirisena, the President of Sri Lanka, of the generous help from Thailand. The Ambassador of Thailand to Sri Lanka reiterated that Sri Lanka is a very close friend of Thailand, and that the two countries have been bound by Buddhism. H.E. Ambassador of Thailand to Sri Lanka hoped that Sri Lanka could successfully cope with the drought crisis. In addition, H.E. Ambassador stated that His Majesty the Late King Bhumibol Adulyadej invented an artificial rain-making technique which has long been used in the draught areas in Thailand and suggested that Sri Lanka may seek cooperation from Thailand on this matter to prevent future draught crisis.