On 6 July 2019, His Excellency Mr. Vichit Chitvimarn, Ambassador of Thailand to Denmark presided over the opening ceremony of the “Thai Festival @ Copenhagen 2019” at Havneparken, Islands Brygge, under the theme “The Best of ASEAN: Oneness to the World” to celebrate the occasion that Thailand as Chair of ASEAN has declared this year the “ASEAN Cultural Year 2019”. The opening ceremony was also attended by Ambassadors of ASEAN member states to Denmark, namely Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines; Ms. Darunee Thammapodol, Advisor on Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture of Thailand and representatives of Team Thailand in Copenhagen.

At the Festival, there were almost 40 booths offering Thai food and products as well as booths from Team Thailand. In addition, one of the Festival’s highlights was the magnificent “VIVA ASEAN Performance”by artists from 10 ASEAN countries brought together by the Ministry of Culture of Thailand as part of the “ASEAN Cultural Roadshow” to represent the cultures of ASEAN as one to the world under the theme “Diversity, Creativity and Sustainability”. The Thai Festival also featured a variety of cultural performance by member of the Thai Community in Denmark including traditional music and Muay Thai as well as the lucky draws for round-trip tickets between Copenhagen and Bangkok sponsored by Thai Airways International and quiz games sponsored by ILLUM and Pandora. All the activities received much attention from the visitors, especially the VIVA ASEAN performance.

The Royal Thai Embassy has organized the Thai Festival in Copenhagen consecutively for 11 years. The objective of the Festival is to foster better understanding about Thailand and to promote the people-to-people relations which date back to almost 400 years ago and the two countries celebrated the 160^th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Diplomatic Relations last year. The Festival also gives the Thai community in Denmark an opportunity to show their solidarity and heritage. This year's Festival was attended by approximately 15,000 people including diplomatic corps, Friends of Thailand, Danes and Thais living in Denmark as well as other tourists, despite the rainy conditions. It is another year of success in raising the awareness and better understanding about Thai and ASEAN cultures among the Danish and foreigners which in turn helps to promote closer people-to-people contacts.