On 9 June 2023, Mr. Asi Mamanee, Director-General of the Department of European Affairs, co-chaired the 5th Session of Thailand - Spain Political Consultations with Mr. Javier Salido Ortiz, Director-General for North America, Eastern Europe, Asia and Pacific of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thailand. Amongst the officials in attendance were representatives from the Royal Thai Embassy in Madrid and the Embassy of Spain in Bangkok.

Both sides shared updates of the ongoing bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on ways to deepen and materialize cooperation in a range of areas, such as trade/investment, science/technology/innovation (STI), energy, agriculture, education, culture, tourism, and consular affairs. Both sides were committed to promoting the exchange of high-level visits to advance cooperation especially in transportation, energy, and water management. Both countries also recognized the robust economic ties and the potential to leverage economic complementarities and strategic convergence between Thailand’s Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy Model and Spain’s 2021-2024 Foreign Action Strategy.

DG Asi later hosted a working lunch for the Spanish delegation to further discuss regional and global issues, such as cooperation with ASEAN, the Thai-EU FTA negotiations, Indo-Pacific issues, as well as the situations in Ukraine and in Myanmar. The Spanish side highlighted some of the priorities under the Presidency of Spain of the Council of the European Union during July-December 2023, including economic recovery, energy security, strategic autonomy and green transition, all of which were in line with the earlier bilateral conference.

On 8 June 2023, DG Javier Salido Ortiz and his team also participated in the inaugural session of the Thailand-Spain Forum at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand. The track-1.5 Forum was co-organized by the International Studies Centre (ISC) and the Devawongse Varopakarn Institute of Foreign Affairs (DVIFA), in collaboration with Casa Asia of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain. This Forum enabled both sides to discuss issues of common interests, focusing on developments in the Indo-Pacific, tourism promotion, and the exchange of language and culture.

The 5th Session of Thailand -Spain Political Consultations marked the 153th year anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.