His Excellency Mr. Srettha Thavisin, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, will attend the ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit on 20 October 2023 in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The participation of the Prime Minister at the first-ever Summit of three decades long ASEAN-GCC relations will demonstrate Thailand’s political commitment to strengthening ties with the GCC and all of its 6 Members namely, Kingdom of Bahrain, State of Kuwait, Sultanate of Oman, State of Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, whose relations with Thailand has recently been normalised.

The Summit will discuss future direction of the ASEAN-GCC relations. The Prime Minister will use this opportunity to build trust, boost confidence, as well as promote Thailand’s economic potential to the GCC, which is an emerging market of more than 60 million people with 2 trillion US dollars combined GDP. Furthermore, with the GCC Members’ established sovereign wealth fund valued at more than 4 trillion US dollars, Thailand can attract investment in areas of mutual interests such as clean energy, food and agriculture, tourism, public health, and infrastructure development.

The Summit will raise public awareness among peoples and private sectors of both regions, and encourage exchanges and visits for both business and leisure, especially in medical tourism. Thailand enjoys the privilege of being the top destination for nearly 300,000 GCC tourists in 2022.

In addition, the Summit will exchange views on international issues and reaffirm commitment to maintaining regional peace, stability, and security.