On 5 April 2022, H.E. Urawadee Sriphiromya, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Thailand to ASEAN, attended the 23^rd ASEAN-China Joint Cooperation Committee Meeting via videoconferencing.
Representing Thailand as the ASEAN Coordinator on Sustainable Development Cooperation, Ambassador Sriphiromya welcomed the inclusion of the efforts to promote complementarities between the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the SDGs or the Complementarities Initiative as part of Cambodia’s Chairmanship Priorities, as well as the designation of 2021 and 2022 as the ASEAN-China Years of Sustainable Development Cooperation. Ambassador Sriphiromya took this opportunity to promote
the Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy Model among the post COVID-19 recovery strategies. This year, Thailand is hosting the ASEAN BCG Economy Knowledge Sharing Series throughout the year and intends to invite China to share its knowledge and experience on clean industry and green manufacturing. Moreover, Ambassador Sriphiromya invited China to cooperate with the ASEAN Centre for Sustainable Development Studies and Dialogue or the ACSDSD which was founded during the Thai Chairmanship of ASEAN in 2019.

At this Meeting, Ambassador Sriphiromya also congratulated China on the establishment of the ASEAN-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. She expressed Thailand’s readiness to further cooperate with China on health, economic recovery, and sustainable growth through capacity-building programmes for MSMEs, startups, and local entrepreneurs to prepare them for digital transformation. Ambassador Sriphiromya stressed the need to advance the “Connecting the Connectivites” Initiative for which Thailand has always been an active proponent.

Moreover, the Meeting discussed ways to enhance ASEAN-China cooperation in the fields of trade and investment, education, narrowing the development gap, and sub-regional cooperation.

Photo Courtesy of the ASEAN Secretariat