H.E. Mr. Vijavat Isarabhakdi, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, led the Thai Delegation to the 28th OSCE Ministerial Council that was held between 2-3 December 2021 in Stockholm, Sweden. The Ministerial Council is the OSCE’s highest-level annual meeting. This year’s meeting was attended in-person by H.E. Ann Linde, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden as Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE, as well as other Foreign Ministers and high-level representatives of OSCE participating countries and partners. In the capacity of Asian Partner for Cooperation of the OSCE,
the Vice Minister delivered interventions in the Plenary Session as well as in the High-Level Troika with Asian Partners for Co-operation.

In his interventions, the Vice Minister stressed Thailand’s constructive role in promoting resilient, open and inclusive societies through a whole-of-society and whole-of-government approach where the people are placed front and centre. Thailand also sought to boost international cooperation as well as intensify engagement with the OSCE to foster multilateralism on the basis of mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual benefit.
The Vice Minister further underscored Thailand’s role as the only ASEAN Member State participating in the OSCE forum as an Asian Partner for Cooperation, and showcased Thailand’s role in linking ASEAN and the OSCE in concrete cooperation. For example, at the 2021 OSCE Asian Conference on “Common Responses to Emerging Challenges in Advancing Comprehensive Security” co-hosted by Thailand and Albania between 20-21 September 2021, a Thai speaker representing the ASEAN Women for Peace Registry (AWPR) addressed the Meeting on the topic of the role of women in peace and security.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a consultative forum that focuses on enhancing preventive diplomacy and early warning systems to settle and prevent conflicts and crises in Europe. The OSCE’s mandate is to promote a comprehensive approach to security that emcompasses the politico-military, economic and environmental, and human aspects. Thailand values the OSCE as an open policy space for the exchange of experiences and best practices in security-related matters which, in and of themselves, are valuable confidence- and security-building measures (CSBMs) between nations.