On 21 February 2018, H.E. Ms. Marianne Hagen, State Secretary of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway, paid a courtesy call on H.E. Mr. Virasakdi Futrakul, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the occasion of her visit to Thailand during 21 – 23 February 2018 to attend “Global SDG7 Conference” held at UNESCAP in Bangkok.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs welcomed the Norwegian delegation and encouraged the Norwegian side to invest in Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) in areas which Norway has great expertise along with high-technology. The Deputy Minister emphasized tax incentive and on-going development plans to accommodate such initiative. These areas include (1) maritime connectivity which Thailand has several construction projects on modern transportation systems; (2) education; by inviting leading universities worldwide to establish branches to create a public – private – academic partnership and transform research and development (R&D) into production and smart city development, particularly in the establishment of the Electric Vehicles (EV) to support Thailand’s future plan of creating smart city such as Phuket.

Moreover, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs invited the Norwegian side to join the 2^nd High – Level Brainstorming Dialogue on Enhancing Complementarities between the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (HLBD), which will be held on 30 March 2018 in Bangkok. Also, he encouraged Norway to take part in future programmes to be operated by the ASEAN Centre for Sustainable Development Studies and Dialogue, which is expected to be established in Thailand in the near future.

On this occasion, the State Secretary emphasized the cordial and long-standing relations between Thailand and Norway including between the Royal Families and that Thailand is an important partner of Norway in many aspects. The State Secretary also invited Thailand to participate in the International High Level Panel on the Sustainable Ocean Economy to be held in Oslo in October 2018. This newly launched panel was aimed to create balance between conservation and the use and harvest of the oceans. She also mentioned the issue of plastic litter at seas, which both sides could collaborate further.