The Rt. Hon. Amanda Milling MP, Minister of State (Minister for Asia) at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom, paid an official visit to Thailand as guest of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand during 11 – 14 January 2022. During the visit, Minister Milling held a bilateral meeting with H.E. Mr. Vijavat Isarabhakdi, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, and paid courtesy calls on H.E. Mr. Supattanapong Punmeechaow, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy, and General Prachya Chalermwat, Secretary- General of the National Cyber Security Agency.

During the bilateral meeting between the Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Asia, both sides stressed the importance of the Thailand-UK strategic partnership that covers all areas of cooperation and exchanged ways to enhance and build upon existing cooperation, particularly on the promotion of investment and trade through the 1st Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) to be held in Thailand this year. Both sides also discussed cooperation on defense and security, particularly collaboration on digital technologies and counter-terrorism as well as cyber-security. In addition, both sides discussed broadening health cooperation, including early conclusion of the Memorandum of Understanding on Genomics Cooperation.

Other important issues discussed included Thailand’s APEC host in 2022, the constructive roles of the UK in Indo-Pacific, regional frameworks such as ACMECS and ASEAN, in which the UK could support in sustainable development and capacity-building. Moreover, Thailand and the UK also exchanged views on the situation in Myanmar, especially the support for the ASEAN’s roles towards the Five-Point Consensus (5PC), and in providing humanitarian assistance.

Thailand and the UK also shared the view that the Build Back Better World (B3W) Initiative launched by the G7 leaders, aiming to promote sustainable and transparent investment in infrastructure in developing countries in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, is in line with the Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy Model of Thailand which aims to promote sustainable growth for the sustainable recovery.

Also on this occasion, the UK expressed its readiness to host the 4th Thailand-UK Strategic Dialogue (SD) this year in the UK, to be co-chaired at vice-ministerial level, to steer the bilateral cooperation towards concrete outcomes.