Thailand and Italy have reaffirmed their commitment to cooperate in all aspects of economic promotion and sustainable development.
Lorenzo Galanti, Italy’s ambassador to Thailand, paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Friday at Government House to bid farewell as his tenure has come to an end.
Gen Prayut praised the achievements of the envoy during his four-year term. He also said he hopes to strengthen bilateral ties in all respects as this year marks the 154th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The prime minister also extended his best regards to Giorgia Meloni, who is expected to become Italy’s first female prime minister.
The ambassador expressed confidence in further joint development with Thailand in such fields as security, science, technology and medicine.
Italy will also support Thailand in its role chairing the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meeting in Bangkok next month, in the hope that the event will benefit every country in the region and promote sustainable economic growth, Mr Galanti said.
Gen Prayut praised the close collaboration between the two countries in developing curricula for the Command and General Staff College and the Royal Police Cadet Academy, as well as training courses for the Royal Thai Police.
The prime minister also thanked Italy for sending company representatives to participate in the Defense & Security 2022 forum held at Impact, Muang Thong Thani arena in August, which served as a showcase of the country’s latest defence technology.
He further praised Mr Galanti for initiating a short film project titled Me and the Magic Door, in which Thai agencies and Italian artists depict the architectural legacy of Italy in Bangkok, such as the colonial architectural design of the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall and Ban Norasingh, which is currently used as Government House.
Mr Galanti said he was delighted to help organise the first Asean-European Union Commemorative Summit in Brussels, which will be held to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Asean and the EU in December.
The premier expressed confidence that the summit would serve as a stage to promote economic cooperation in the two regions to further sustainable development
Gen Prayut also said he was delighted that the EU and Thailand had finally drafted an initial Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) in September.
The PCA covers a wide range of policy areas including environment, energy, climate change and trade. It will be a roadmap to positively frame EU-Thai relations in the years to come, he said.