The 4th Thailand - Spain Political Consultations

On 7 June 2022, Mr. Asi Mamanee, Director-General of the Department of European Affairs, co-chaired the 4th 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 the Kingdom of Spain, in Madrid, Spain. The meeting was held in a constructive and friendly atmosphere, marking 152th year anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Amongst the officials in attendance were Mr. Pongprach Makchang, Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission of the Royal Thai Embassy in Madrid as well as H.E. Felipe de la Morena Casado, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain to Thailand, who travelled to Madrid to join in the consultations.
Both sides shared updates of the ongoing Thai-Spanish cooperation and exchanged views on deepening practical cooperation in a range of areas such as defense and security, trade and investment, STI and energy, agriculture, public health, education, culture and tourism. Both sides committed to promote exchange of high-level visits after a long absence to advance cooperation in all dimensions. Both countries 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. They also exchanged views on possible cooperation in the emerging areas of digital economy, renewable technology, medical technology, food security, marine conservation, and water management.

Director-General Javier Salido Ortiz later hosted Director-General Asi Mamanee a working lunch, where they engaged in a wide-ranging discussion on regional and global issues such as developments in Europe, the NATO summit which Spain will host on 29-30 June 2022 in Madrid, the situation in Ukraine, Myanmar, China, cooperation with ASEAN, the Thai-EU FTA negotiations, the Thai-EU PCA negotiations, and Indo-Pacific issues.

On 8 June 2022, Director-General Asi Mamanee and his team also held a meeting with Mr. Javier Parrondo, Director General of Casa Asia, and
H.E. Mr. Emilio de Miguel Calabia, Director of Casa Asia (Madrid) and former Ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain to Thailand at the Casa Asia headquarter in Madrid, during which both sides discussed opportunities created by the soon to be established Thailand-Spain forum between Casa Asia and Devawongse Varopakarn Institute of Foreign Affairs. This Spanish initiative is aimed at advancing public diplomacy cooperation, promoting Spanish language learning in Thailand, and vice-versa, as well as enhancing people-to-people exchange, in addition to being a foreign policy forum.