On 8 July 2021, the Royal Thai Embassy, Bucharest, in collaboration with the Romanian Institute of Geology and Geoecology (GeoEcoMar), organised a webinar on “Coastal and Marine Challenges: learning from experiences of Thailand and Romania” to initiate cooperation between Thailand and Romania on sustainable coastal management.

The webinar aimed to promote experience and knowledge sharing among Thai and Romanian researchers on sustainable coastal management such as development of early warning system technology, prevention of coastal erosion using natural coastal buffers, development of coastal monitoring system, as well as to preliminarily identify potential cooperation topics which could provide opportunities for joint research projects in the Asia-Europe context in the future.

H.E. Mr. Chairat Porntipwarawet, Ambassador of Thailand to Romania, opened the webinar by highlighting the importance of cooperation between Thailand and Romania in achieving Sustainable Development Goals. The webinar was joined by experts and researchers from Thailand and Romania, namely Dr. Pinsak Suraswadi, Inspector General, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Thailand, Assistant Professor Dr. Ponlachart Chotikarn, Director of Marine and Coastal Resources Institute and Member of Coastal Oceanography and Climate Change Research Center (COCC), Prince of Songkla University, Assistant Professor Dr. Sompratana Ritphring, Lecturer, Water Resources Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kasetsart University, Assistant Professor Dr. Tanuspong Pokavanich, Lecturer, Faculty of Fisheries, Kasetsart University, Dr. Viorel Vulturescu, Director of International Cooperation Department, Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization of Romania, Professor Dr. Adrian Stanica, Director General, GeoEcoMar, and Professor Dr. Gheorghe Viorel Ungureanu, Deputy Director General, GeoEcoMar. Representatives from relevant Thai agencies, namely the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (Public Organisation), the Marine and Coastal Resources Research and Development Institute, Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, and the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP), also participated in the webinar.