On 31 May 2018, H.E. Mr. Kobsak Pootrakool, Minister Attached to the Prime Minister’s Office and H.E. Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) concerning Country Programme (CP) between the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the OECD. The signing took place during the Meeting of the OECD Council at Ministerial Level (MCM) on 30 - 31 May 2018 at Paris, which Minister Kobsak also attended.

                  Country Programme is a 3 year cooperative project between Thailand and the OECD, aiming at enhancing relationships between the two sides in the whole-of-government approach and supporting Thai agencies to further engage with OECD bodies. The broad array of cooperation includes (1) policy review (2) participation of Thai agencies in OECD bodies and projects (3) organization of joint meetings, seminars and workshops (4) adherence to OECD legal instrument and (5) secondment and/or loan of officials to the OECD by Thailand’s ministries or agencies.

                   The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) and related Thai agencies have agreed the areas of cooperation under CP which aligns with Thailand’s 20-Year National Strategy (2017-2036) and the 12th National Economic and Social Development Plan (2017-2021). In addition, the Programme supports Thailand’s efforts to achieving more inclusive and sustainable development, including through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). CP is comprised of 16 projects under 4 main pillars including (1) good governance and transparency (2) business climate and competitiveness (3) Thailand 4.0 and (4) inclusive growth.

                   Cooperation under CP will provide Thailand an opportunity to tap into the wealth of OECD’s expertise and knowledge, which would support Thailand’s reform agenda and enhance Thailand’s standard and best practices. It would help reinforce Thailand’s economic position and best practice among OECD member countries. Furthermore, this would help paving way for Thailand’s membership of OECD in the future, if Thailand decided to join OECD.