On 13 November 2018, H.E. Mr. Don Pramudwinai, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand, attended the 18^th ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC) Council Meeting and the 22^nd ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC) Meeting, before joining the delegation led by H.E. General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, to the 33^rd ASEAN Summit and Related Summits in Singapore.

      During the 18^th APSC Council Meeting, the Minister of Foreign Affairs delivered a statement stressing the importance of the APSC in advancing regional peace and stability, and addressing non-traditional security threats. In his statement, the Minister of Foreign Affairs shared with the meeting of the progress made by Thailand on border management with neighbouring countries to prevent transnational crimes as the region becomes more integrated and inter-connected, as well as Thailand’s efforts in tackling Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing. Moreover, Thailand upholds ASEAN Centrality in the regional architecture. In order to maintain an ASEAN Community that is open and outward-looking, Thailand believes that it is in ASEAN’s interest to develop partnerships with countries outside the region, while strengthening ASEAN partnership with its dialogue partners.

      Prior to the 22^nd ACC Meeting, the ASEAN Ministers witnessed the launch of the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC) 2025 Deliverables for 2018 and ASEAN Connectivity Microsite. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand stressed the need of ASEAN to work towards a Seamless ASEAN and to develop greater synergies between the MPAC 2025 and other regional frameworks, as well as expressed Thailand’s readiness to take forward the ASEAN Smart Cities Network. As ASEAN’s Coordinator on the Complementarities between the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030, Thailand proposed to set up the ASEAN Centre for Sustainable Development Studies and Dialogue (ACSDSD) in 2019. The ACC adopted the Concept Note-Terms of Reference of the ACSDSD, which was noted by the 33rd ASEAN Summit.