On 9 May 2023, Ms. Busadee Santipitaks, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs, attended the Tree Planting Ceremony at Lumpini Park to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of Thailand-EU diplomatic relations and celebrate Europe Day on 9 May of each year. The event was joined by H.E. Mr. David Daly, Ambassador of the European Union to Thailand, and Mr. Chadchart Sittipunt, Governor of Bangkok; and witnessed by Ambassadors and representatives from EU and ASEAN, as well as other diplomatic missions.

At the event, DPS Busadee pointed out that the three planted Siamese Rosewood trees (or “Pa-Yoong” in Thai) represented the longstanding friendship between Thailand and the EU in the common pursuit of a robust, sustainable, and green future, since “Pa-Yoong” is a homophonic Thai word that can mean both the tree and cordial support for one another. Such close ties of the two reliable partners, in fact, are increasingly evident with the recent signing of the Thailand-EU Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) last December and the relaunch of the Thailand-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Negotiations in March this year.

DPS Busadee also added that when it came to advancing the green agenda, Thailand and the EU were natural partners, as the BCG Economy Model and the European Green Deal shared the same aspiration to promote innovation-driven, balanced, and green growth. In the context of the Indo-Pacific, Thailand stood ready to cooperate with the EU in areas such as non-traditional security, high-quality and smart connectivity, and sustainable development in the Mekong Sub-Region.