Director-General of the Department of ASEAN Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand Visited ACC

On 3 March 2015, Mr. Jakkrit Srivali, Director-General of the Department of ASEAN Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Thailand, led a delegation from ASEAN-Thailand to visit ASEAN-China Centre (ACC). The delegation met with Ms. Huang Ying, ACC Acting Secretary-General and Director of General Affairs and Coordination Division (GACD), Mr. Li Yuan, Director of Trade and Investment Division (TID), Mr. Tri Purnajaya, Director of Education, Culture and Tourism Division (ECTD), and Ms. Lada Phumas, Director of Information and Public Relations Division (IPRD) of ACC. 

Acting Secretary-General Huang Ying extended a warm welcome to the delegation. She expressed that since its inception in 2011, ACC has received strong support from its Members, including Thailand. ACC has exerted great efforts to promote ASEAN-China cooperation in trade, investment, education, culture, tourism as well as information and public relations, and has become a good family for ASEAN and Chinese colleagues to work together. This visit offered a good opportunity for ACC and Thailand to have further closer collaboration. She then opened the floor for the Directors of ACC to brief on the work of each division. 

In the areas of trade and investment, Director Li Yuan highlighted the establishment of the ASEAN-China Products Trade Centre in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, and organizing Chinese investment missions to ASEAN Member States. He further expressed ACC’s readiness to assist marketing Thai products in China, and facilitate Thai companies’ participation in trade fairs and exhibitions in different provinces of China. In addition, ACC would be pleased to help promote two-way investment between Thailand and China.

In the areas of education, culture and tourism, Director Tri Purnajaya talked about ACC’s efforts to facilitate the realization of the double 100,000 student mobility goal between ASEAN and China through three platforms, namely, active participation in the ASEAN-China Education Cooperation Week, partnership with the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) whose headquarters is in Bangkok, and the inauguration of the ASEAN-China Language and Culture Centre at Beijing Language and Culture University. To celebrate the 2014 ASEAN-China Cultural Exchange Year, ACC organized Chinese art troupes to stage performances in some ASEAN countries. ACC shot TV documentaries to introduce ASEAN tourism resources in China. Several ASEAN countries including Thailand were among the most favorite tourist destinations for the Chinese.

In the area of information and public relations, Director Lada Phumas mentioned ACC had achieved great success in raising awareness about ASEAN-China relations and raising the profile of ACC among the general public, particularly the youth, which would help enhance ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership in a sustainable way. Besides carrying out PR projects, ACC established new platforms for reaching out. These included setting up ACC booth during the annual CAEXPO, managing ACC bilingual Website and Microblog whose fans reached over 1.7 million, issuing ACC Newsletter and statistics book of ASEAN-China Info 2013, as well as publishing ACC articles in ASEAN-China Panorama and China Report magazines, etc. In 2015, ACC would continue to conduct various PR projects and wished to receive continued and valuable support from the Thai Government. 

In general affairs and coordination, Acting Secretary-General and GACD Director Huang Ying expressed that for the past years ACC had forged good cooperation with the Governments of ASEAN Member States including the ASEAN Embassies in Beijing and China. The institutional building and daily operation of ACC progressed smoothly. Against the backdrop of ASEAN-China relations at a new starting point of the Diamond Decade, ACC would spare no efforts to further promote ASEAN-China cooperation and enhance ASEAN-China relations to a new level. She briefed on the ongoing work of the ACC mid-term review, and seeked for Thailand’s guidance and support to ACC.

Director-General Jakkrit Srivali highly commended ACC’s work. He opined that ACC had lived up to expectations for the past three years, which was valuable and served the interests of both ASEAN and China. Director-General Jakkrit Srivali suggested that in addition to the already good government-to-government relations, ACC should exert more efforts to reach out more to the people of ASEAN and China, with a view to building a sense of real partnership and community belonging. Deputy Director-General Phasporn Sangasubana added that to further improve ACC in the mid-term review process, it was suggested ACC to make critical assessment of its own work including its strengths and weaknesses, which would serve as a sound basis for the ACC Members’ further discussion. The Thai delegation reaffirmed its continued support to ACC.

After the briefing, the delegation toured the photo exhibition on ASEAN-China relations and the development of ACC at the ASEAN Hall of ACC. 

The visit was a part of the official visit to China by the Thai delegation as the current country coordinator for ASEAN-China relations, at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China.