On 8 – 10 February 2023, H.E. Ms. Arjaree Sriratanaban, Ambassador of Thailand to Australia, representing H.E. Mr. Don Pramudwinai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, led the Thai delegation to attend the 8th Bali Process Ministerial Conference and related meetings at the Adelaide Convention Centre in Adelaide, Australia. Police General Surachate Hakparn, Deputy Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police, and Mr. Phuchphop Mongkolnavin, Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Organizations also joined the Thai delegation.

Held on the occassion of 20th anniversary of its establishment, the 8th Bali Process Ministerial Conference was co-chaired by Senator the Honourable Penny Wong, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Australia, and H.E. Mrs. Retno Marsudi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia. The meeting was also attended by representatives from 36 member states and 4 international organizations,

The Conference discussed the latest developments of the Bali Process as well as rising regional challenges, and adopted the 2023 Adelaide Strategy for Cooperation, which was updated to replace the previous Strategy for Cooperation adopted at the 7th Bali Process Ministerial Conference in 2018. The 2023 Adelaide Strategy for Cooperation comprises 8 areas of focus, including law enforcement, stakeholder engagement, information sharing, border management, irregular migration, victim protection and migration management and returns and reintegration.

At the Conference, Ambassador of Thailand to Australia delivered a statement highlighting emerging trends of irregular migration, the expansion of crime syndicates’ illegal operations in the virtual space, commonly through online media platforms, and human trafficking in relation to online scams in Southeast Asia. Thailand also made recommendations for the Bali Process to strengthen cooperation in countering human trafficking and other related forms of exploitation using technologies and online platforms; to enhance capacity building of officers; to promote cooperation and information among law enforcement officers at all stages from detection, prevention, investigation to prosecution; to promote more information and intelligence sharing among law enforcement officers; to promote cooperation in providing assistance and protection to victims; to raise awareness among the public; and to encourage engagement with online service providers to address the issues.

The Thai delegation also attended the 3rd Government and Business Forum (GABF), which presented the progress made on the implementation of the AAA Recommendations of the business sector in addressing the issues of human trafficking, forced labour and child labour in supply chain. In this connection, the Ambassador delivered a statement, commending the GABF in arranging sector-specific consultations for all sectors at risk so that they can find common solutions to promote supply chain transparency, ethical recruitment and worker redress mechanisms. The Thai Ambassador also proposed that the GABF engages the private sector in the digital and technology industry to take concrete action in preventing and combating these crimes.

The Bali Process, incepted in 2002, is a Regional Consultative Process in the Asia-Pacific region to address the issues of smuggling of migrants, human trafficking and related transnational crimes, with Thailand as one of the four Steering Group member countries. The others are Australia, Indonesia and New Zealand.