The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) will host the High Level Regional Conference: Synchronising Trade and Security Plans in Support of ASEAN 2025 during 3 – 4 April 2019 at UN Conference Centre in Bangkok.

 

H.E. General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, will preside over the opening ceremony on 3 April 2019 and deliver the keynote speech. Mr. Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of UNODC, will deliver an opening statement. H.E. Air Chief Marshall Prajin Juntong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, will chair the meeting which is expected to be attended by 100 high-level representatives, including ministers and senior officials from ASEAN Member States, ASEAN Dialogue Partners, International Organizations along with economic development agencies and security agencies of Thailand. 

 

Thailand, as the ASEAN Chair this year under the theme “Advancing Partnership for Sustainability,” aims to enhance cooperation among ASEAN Member States to create sustainability in all dimensions. In this light, Thailand wishes to push forward an ASEAN-wide border management cooperation arrangement as a mechanism to strike a balance between regional security, stability and safety on the one hand, and facilitation of cross-border trade and movement of people on the other. This will enable ASEAN Member States to mitigate the possible negative impact of enhanced physical connectivity and deepen economic integration especially with the full implementation of the ASEAN Single Window this year.

 

The Conference will serve as a platform for discussion on ways and means to further reinforce collaboration on border management. The discussion will focus on 3 main topics namely (1) ASEAN Policy, Legal and Strategic Frameworks Related to Border Management, (2) Adopting a Security-Sensitive Approach to Integration Plans, and (3) Strengthening Operational Capacity for Border Management. Recommendations emerged from the Conference will be presented to relevant ASEAN sectoral meetings to help strengthen concrete border management cooperation in ASEAN.

 

Since 2015, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, and the UNODC have continuously organised a series of high level regional conferences on border management cooperation in ASEAN. This year marks the 5th Conference of its series building upon the outcomes of the previous Conference held in 2018.