​On 20 October 2023, H.E. Mr. Srettha Thavisin, Prime Minister, accompanied by H.E. Mr. Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Thai Delegation attended the ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit (ASEAN-GCC Summit) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

​At the first-ever Summit of the 33-year relations between ASEAN and GCC, Prime Minister asserted Thailand’s readiness and demonstrated Thailand’s potential to strengthen ties with the GCC under the vision of “innovative partnership for sustainable future”, with focus on priority areas such as food, energy, health, and climate change, as well as through fostering closer relations with all 6 GCC Member States, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

​On this occasion, Prime Minister proposed to strengthen ASEAN-GCC relations in 3 following priority areas:

​1) Seamless trade and investment through the negotiation of the Thai-GCC and ASEAN-GCC Free Trade Agreements to reduce trade and service barriers and increase trade values between Thailand and the GCC—currently valued at over USD 40 billion. He also proposed convening a forum for cooperation and dialogue between private sectors, which Saudi Arabia proposed to host the first ASEAN-GCC Economic and Investment Conference in the first half of 2024. Prime Minister reiterated the readiness of Thailand as Kitchen of the World to promote cooperation in agriculture, food innovation, halal science and standardization, to ensure food security for both regions.
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2) Sustainability and Green Agenda. Prime Minister welcomed GCC’s interest in investing in Sustainability-linked bonds, issued by the Thai Government as part of green finance promotion. He also welcomed sharing of best practices on energy efficiency, clean energy, and electric vehicle (EV) towards energy security and net-zero emission.

​3) Stronger people ties. Prime Minister reiterated Thailand’s and ASEAN’s readiness to welcome more GCC tourists. He hopes to see a number of GCC tourists to Thailand, currently almost 300,000 per year, doubled in the next 2 years. In this regard, he supported visa free scheme and Open Sky connectivity between the two regions, as well as promotion of Thailand’s distinctive and high-quality health and wellness tourism.

​The Meeting exchanged views on international issues, particularly on the developments in Israel, Gaza Strip and vicinities, which resulted in many casualties and hostages—amongst them Thai migrant workers. In this regard, the Prime Minister joined the ASEAN and GCC Leaders in calling on all parties to end violence, stop targeting innocent civilians, ensure unimpeded access for humanitarian assistance to peoples in the conflict, as well as calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. The Leaders also urged for the peaceful resolution of conflict through diplomatic dialogues, and issued a joint statement on this matter.

​At the sidelines, the Prime Minister was granted audience with the GCC Leaders namely His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Crown Prince of the State of Kuwait, and His Highness Sayyid Shihab bin Tariq bin Taimur Al Said, Deputy Prime Minister of the Sultanate of Oman. He also had an audience with His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where Saudi Arabia reaffirmed its readiness to provide assistance to Thai nationals.

​Prime Minister also used this opportunity to meet with 4 leading Saudi State-owned companies and private sectors, namely Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund, Saudi ARAMCO, petroleum company, Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Cooperation (SABIC), petrochemical company, and Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company (SALIC) to discuss investment and trade opportunities. Furthermore, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs also met with His Excellency Mr. Khalid Abdulaziz Al-Falih, Minister of Investment of Saudi Arabia, to promote investment on energy, clean energy, petrochemicals, EV, and food security.