Thailand and Germany Jointly Celebrate 60 Years of Successful Cooperation for Sustainable Development
From left to right:
Mr. Hagen Dirksen, Honorary consul of Germany for northern Thailand
Dr. Peer Gebauer, Minister Deputy Head of Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to Thailand
Mr. Peter Prügel, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Thailand
Mrs. Suphatra Srimaitreephithak, Director – General of Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA)
Mrs.Jitkasem Tantasiri, Deputy Director-General of Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA)
Mr.Vichit Chitvimarn, Ambassador Attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Mr. Stefan Helming, Country director, GIZ Thailand
On 18 January 2017, Thailand and Germany celebrated 60 years of successful Thai-German cooperation for sustainable development at Vithes Samosorn, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This event was designed to disseminate knowledge, experience and the implementation of sustainable development through Thai-German development cooperation over the past 60 years in various fields including agriculture, health, energy, environment, climate change and technology. Mr. Panyarak Poolthup, Deputy Permanent Secretary, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand and H.E. Mr. Peter Prügel, German Ambassador to Thailand presided over the event.
“Thai-German cooperation has been a success story throughout the past 60 years.” Mr. Prügel noted. “Together, we have been able to contribute to the impressive development of Thailand from a developing country to a leading economy and attractive business location for investors today. One key area has always been the education sector. The Thai-German Technical School founded in 1959 has, for example, provided a skilled labour force that was the base for Thailand’s industrial development. This school later became King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok (KMUTNB) and is today still a leading institution in the field of technical education.
“While we continue to cooperate in the education sector by collaborating with academia and the business sector to improve the quality of vocational training, our cooperation has also adapted to new developments. As Thailand has transformed from a recipient to a provider of aid for sustainable development, we now jointly focus on addressing pressing global challenges such as combatting climate change or promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency. Other areas of our cooperation include sustainable transport, agriculture, and urban and business development. Given its attractiveness, Thailand has become a hub for Germany’s activities in the whole ASEAN region and beyond. This is also highlighted by the fact that Germany’s development cooperation staff from all over Asia are trained at the GIZ training facility in Bangkok.”
Mr. Panyarak added: “Thailand and Germany have enjoyed good cooperation in various fields for more than 60 years. The success during that time has been due to the matching of ideas between the two countries – the sufficiency economy philosophy pioneered by the late King on the Thai side, and the concept of a social market economy on the German side. Projects created through Thai-German cooperation have not only helped the business sector, but also reduced negative impacts on society and the environment. This path of sustainable development and the success of these projects could not have been achieved without the determination of and cooperation between the public and private sectors. Moreover, the experience and success from the cooperation on these projects can be used to develop trilateral cooperation, leading to the current assistance for Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Timor Leste. This path of cooperation will certainly continue, with a balance of economic, social and environmental concerns for sustainable development, which is our objective.”
The event also featured a panel discussion titled “Stories from the Past for the Future towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” with speakers exchanging their past and present experiences and directions for development cooperation in the future using the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP) approach to develop the country to reach SDGs.
Moreover, an exhibition displaying the implementation results of Thai-German cooperation in sustainable development of more than 300 projects was also showcased and encompassed several booths from Rain Tree Foundation, Goethe-Institut Thailand, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the Rice Department, CBM (Christoffel-Blindenmission), the Office of the Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (Thailand) and King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok (KMUTNB).
The products exhibited along with a documentary film, brochure, exhibition timeline from 1956 to the present, and the thematic exhibition, Sustainable City, can be found here https://www.thai-german-cooperation.info/en_US/topic/. Click here to see the photos from the events.
GALLERY
Pariya Wongsarot
Public Relations Officer
Email: pariya.wongsarot(at)giz.de