BANGKOK, 12 APRIL 2024 - The Philippine Ambassador to Thailand H.E. Millicent Cruz Paredes paid a courtesy call on the Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Thailand, H.E. Eksiri Pintaruchi, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in Bangkok on 11 April 2024.

This was the first formal meeting between the Ambassador and Permanent Secretary Eksiri since she assumed her position at the MFA in January 2024. The Ambassador previously called on Permanent Secretary Eksiri during her tenure as the Ministry’s Director-General for International Organizations.

Their discussion centered on the roster of activities in Bangkok and Manila marking the milestone 75th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Thailand this 2024. The anniversary honors 75 years since the Treaty of Friendship between the two countries was signed on 14 June 1949 in Washington DC, USA, while also acknowledging the historic people-to-people exchanges that occurred over centuries past, long before the countries became modern nation-states.

Year-long activities celebrating 75 years of relations under the theme “Moving Forward to a New Era of Closer Friendship and Common Prosperity" include high-level visits, government-to-government dialogues, business-to-business cooperation, cultural performance, and community events.

Ambassador Paredes, on behalf of the Government of the Philippines, conveyed appreciation to the Royal Thai Government for its warm reception and excellent arrangements for the successful official visit of Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri to Bangkok on 03-05 April 2024. The Senate President, joined by Senator JV Ejercito, was welcomed by Thai Senate President H.E. Pornpetch Wichitcholchaim and House Speaker and President of the National Assembly, H.E. Wan Muhamad Noor Matha.

Both sides also discussed various opportunities for closer cooperation, focusing on the areas of mutual benefit for the Filipino and Thai peoples: trade and investment, agriculture and food security, tourism, labor, and connectivity, among others. END