On 29 June 2023, H.E. Ms. Busadee Santipitaks, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and Mr. Heinrich Schellenberg, Assistant State Secretary and Head of the Asia and Pacific Division, co-chaired the 6th session of Thai - Swiss Political Consultations, at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in Bern. Also in attendance were Mr. Chittipat Tongprasroeth, Ambassador of Thailand to the Swiss Federation; Ms. Marinee Suwanmoli, Deputy Director-General of the Department of European Affairs; and representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Royal Thai Embassy in Bern.

The Swiss side expressed enthusiasm in hosting the 6th Political Consultations, which reflected increasing interests from the Swiss side in strengthening cooperation with Thailand through consultations and dialogues in line with Switzerland’s 2023 - 2026 Strategy for South East Asia. The strategy identifies bilateral relations with Thailand as diverse and dynamic and as South East Asia’s second most important economic partner. The Political Consultations helped not only to maintain the dynamism and continuity of the Thai-Swiss relations, but also to review the existing cooperation and to explore possibilities for new collaboration.

During the meeting, both sides expressed their strong determination to further enhance cooperation in security, trade/investment, education, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) between educational and research institutes. The Meeting also agreed to push forward cooperation in sustainable development and climate action through, for instance, the ongoing Bangkok e-bus program in line with the Paris Agreement. Other topics of common interests included tourism and the expedition of the Thailand-European Free Trade Association (EFTA) FTA negotiations.

The Thai side invited Swiss companies to expand investment in Thailand in the areas of clean energy, Electric Vehicles (EV) and EV parts, waste management, food industry and innovation, Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy, and investment in Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC). Moreover, the Thai side also took this opportunity to assure the Swiss side on Thailand’s political development after the recent general election and economic potential.

During the consultations, the two sides exchanged views on current situations/issues of mutual interests, as well as cooperation in the sub-regional, ASEAN, regional, and global levels such as global economic and political development, as well as the situations in Myanmar and Ukraine.

During the visit, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs had the opportunity to meet with the Executives of International Institute for Management Development (IMD) and H.E. Helene Budliger Artieda Budliger, State Secretary for Economic Affairs (SECO) and former Swiss Ambassador to Thailand from 2019 to 2022, to discuss key areas of economic cooperation.

With the 5th session hosted by Thailand in 2021, Thai-Swiss Political Consultations serve as one of the key bilateral mechanisms to enhance political, economic, and people-to-people cooperation. In addition, Thailand and Switzerland also have Consular Consultations (at the director-general level) as another bilateral cooperation mechanism.