On 7 May 2021, H.E. Mr. Vijavat Isarabhakdi, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, met with H.E. Ms. Evren Dağdelen Akgün, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to the Kingdom of Thailand, who paid a farewell call, and discussed ways to further enhance bilateral cooperation including Free Trade Agreement, tourism, science, technology and innovation, and defence, stressing the need for all citizens to get COVID-19 vaccination.

Both sides were pleased with the dynamism of Thai-Turkish relations during the past 4 years and discussed ways to further enhance cooperation in areas of mutual interests, including; expanding bilateral trade through an early conclusion of the Thai-Turkish Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to achieve the bilateral trade target of 2 billion USD; promoting investment, in particular in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) of Thailand; expanding cooperation in tourism, science technology and innovation and defence; and stressed the need for all citizens to get COVID-19 vaccination including the foreign community in Thailand. Both sides also emphasised the importance of high-level meetings such as Joint Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation (JETC) as a mechanism to drive forward the bilateral relations as well as promoting complementarity and synergies between Turkey’s Asia Anew Initiative and Vision for Thailand 4.0.

In addition, both sides exchanged views on regional and international cooperation, including the ASEAN-Turkey cooperation after Turkey became ASEAN’s Sectoral Dialogue Partner in 2017.

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