On 11 December 2024, H.E. Mr. Maris Sangiampongsa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, co-chaired the 2nd Thailand – Australian Biennial Foreign Ministers’ Meeting with Senator the Honourable Penny Wong, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia at the Government House, Adelaide, during his official visit to Australia from 10 - 12 December 2024. Miss Chayika Wongnapachant, Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was also in attendance. On this occasion, the Governor of South Australia warmly greeted the Minister and the delegation participated in the “Welcome to the Country” Ceremony led by Australian Indigenous leader.

The two sides expressed their appreciation with the progress made in the Thailand-Australia cooperation, including (1) the National Security Dialogue, which Thailand’s National Security Council has agreed to establish with their counterpart, Australia’s Minister of Home Affairs; (2) MOU between EXIM Bank and Export Finance Australia to be signed in December 2024; (3) Australia’s support of 222.5 million Australian Dollar funding to the Mekong-Australia Partnership, which will enhance collaboration in the Mekong sub-region, including in capacity-building, water management, and climate resilience; (4) Australia’s support for Thailand to host the OECD Southeast Asia Regional Programme and (5) Thailand and Australia to further their cooperation in knowledge exchange on agriculture, food, medicines, science, and innovation.

Both Ministers also discussed the development of the relationship and collaboration between Thailand and Australia as Strategic Partners. These advancements were driven forward thanks to the Joint Plan of Action to Implement the Thailand-Australia Strategic Partnership 2022-2025. However, as the Joint Plan of action is set to conclude in 2025,

The Ministers agreed to task relevant officials to continue the positive momentum and translate the all-encompassing areas of cooperation into concrete outcomes. These areas include

(1) Security, which Thailand has emphasised its goal to promote three aspects of security – human security, food, and energy. On this note, Australia agreed to collaborate with Thailand in regards to mutual capability and Thailand’s excellence in areas such as medical, agricultural technology, and clean energy;

(2) Economic, both countries are committed to increasing economic engagement and to build economic resilience together;

(3) Agriculture, given Thailand’s competitive advantage on its strategic location and Australia’s expertise in increasing and maintaining productivity and agricultural yield, both sides will cooperate more to enhance value into the supply chain. Moreover, Australia has agreed to exchange best practices and personnel in agricultural technology which will not only benefit Thailand, but also the region;

(4) Education, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand highlighted the importance of education as a foundation of building a strong society and economy; thus invited Australia to partner in joint-ventures.

Moreover, regional issues were also addressed including the situation in Myanmar, the Strategic Competition, ASEAN’s Role, as well as cooperation in development between Thailand and Australia which can be extended to the Pacific Islands and cooperation in multilateral frameworks such as OECD, and BRICS.

Prior to the meeting, the Australian Foreign Minister took the Thai Foreign Minister on a tour of the Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML), a leading centre for artificial intelligence development which aims to maximise its technology in energy, data management,
and computation.