On 10 September 2023, H.E. Mr. Sathana Kashemsanta Na Ayudhya, Ambassador Designate of the Kingdom of Thailand to the Hellenic Republic, along with other ASEAN Ambassadors, presided over the inauguration ceremony of the ASEAN Pavilion in the Thessaloniki International Fair 2023, at the Thessaloniki International Exhibition Center in Thessaloniki. The inauguration ceremony was attended by Honourable Mr. Apostolos Tzitzikostas, Governor of the Region of Central Macedonia, Honourable Mr. Konstantinos Zervas, Mayor of Thessaloniki and Ms. Maria Karagianni, Vice Mayor of Thessaloniki.

This year the Royal Thai Embassy in Athens participated in the Thessaloniki International Fair between 9 – 17 September 2023 to promote Thai food products, Thai cuisine, Thai jasmine rice and Thai tourism and culture in the Northern Provinces of Greek and Balkan markets. The Embassy’s booth, in cooperation with Papanastasiou S.A, which is a distributor of Thai food products in Greece and owner of La Tienda grocery stores in Athens, featured premium Thai jasmine rice, Thai food products and ingredients as well as tourism and cultural information materials.

The Thessaloniki International Fair 2023 is the most important business, economic, social and political event of 2023, organised by Helexpo (the national entity for the organising of exhibitions, congresses, and cultural events in Greece). There were more than 1,500 exhibitors from 18 countries participating in this event. This is the first time that the ASEAN Embassies jointly organised the ASEAN Pavilion at the Thessaloniki International Fair, which received a very positive response from the visitors, business community and local media. This join promotion activity raised awareness of the local business community of the business opportunity and economic potential of each ASEAN member country and the ASEAN region as a whole.