Director-General of the Department of European Affairs, ASEM SOM Leader for Thailand and ASEAN Group Coordinator, attended the ASEM SOM, promoting Asia-Europe cooperation on the post COVID-19 socio-economic recovery, in the preparation for the 13th ASEM Summit in Cambodia in November 2021.

On 6 July 2021, Mrs. Chulamanee Chartsuwan, Director-General of the Department of European Affairs, in her capacity as Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) SOM Leader for Thailand and the ASEAN Coordinator for ASEM, chaired the ASEAN and Asian Coordination Meetings and attended the ASEM Senior Officials’ Meeting via videoconference on 7 and 9 July 2021. The objective of this series of meetings is to make the preparations for the 13th ASEM Summit (ASEM 13), which will take place on 25-26 November 2021 and will be hosted by Cambodia. The Summit will be attended by leaders from both Asia and Europe.

ASEM SOM Leaders discussed the preparations for the upcoming 13th ASEM Summit and exchanged views on the Summit outcome documents. The Meeting focused on strengthening cooperation between Asia and Europe towards the post COVID-19 socio-economic recovery, including through promoting access to vaccines, mutual recognition and interoperability of vaccine certificates, cooperation in research and innovation, and strengthening the process of global economic recovery. The Meeting also discussed ways to strengthen connectivity between Asia and Europe, which is an ASEAN initiative led by Thailand, as the ASEAN ASEM Coordinator.