On 28 August 2023, H.E. Mr. Sarun Charoensuwan, Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Thailand, led a Thai business delegation to pay a courtesy call on the Honourable Dinesh Gunawardena, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, during the visit to Sri Lanka to co-chair the 5th Bilateral Political Consultations between Thailand and Sri Lanka in Colombo.

Both sides reiterated their close relations through Buddhism and people-to-people ties, which have been the foundation to expand cooperation to other areas, such as trade and investment, renewable energy, industry, and OTOP products development. Permanent Secretary Sarun emphasised Thailand’s confidence in Sri Lanka’s consistently recovering economy, while the Thai business delegation echoed that the confidence and believe that this trip will pave the way for more visits of interested Thai private sector in the near future.

On the same day, the Permanent Secretary also paid a courtesy call on H.E. Mr. Ali Sabry, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka. Both sides expressed their satisfaction on the rapid progress of the ongoing negotiations of bilateral Free Trade Agreement, which is scheduled to be concluded by early next year. In addition, they discussed ways to promote cooperation in BIMSTEC and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) to enhance closer collaboration among countries in the Indian Ocean. Thailand also welcomed Sri Lanka’s application to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).