Paetongtarn”, Prime Minister, gave a statement at the meeting of ASEAN members and China, Japan, South Korea to promote the East Asian region, emphasizing the problem of transnational crime, creating food security, water management, and creating financial stability as important issues for Thailand at the meeting.
Ms. Paethongtarn Shinawatra, Prime Minister, delivered a statement at the 27th ASEAN Plus Three (APT) Summit, attended by leaders of ASEAN countries and dialogue partners China, Japan and South Korea. After the meeting, Mr. Jirayu Huangsap, Government Spokesman, revealed the gist of the statement as follows:
Ms. Paethongtarn Shinawatra, Prime Minister, thanked the ASEAN Secretary-General for reporting on the progress of APT cooperation and thanked the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO). The Prime Minister mentioned the economic outlook of the region, which is currently facing increasingly complex challenges. The APT will continue to be effective in responding to these challenges with soli
darity. She also emphasized 3 key points to promote a resilient, sustainable and prosperous East Asian region as follows:
First, ‘fighting transnational crimes’, especially online fraud, which undermines public confidence in the digital ecosystem, which modern digital executives must learn new things about the digital age to be the key to developing the digital economy. Thailand is ready to support the APT project to deal with cybercrime and online fraud, as well as strengthen cooperation in law enforcement, and support the implementation of the cooperation plan to combat transnational crimes at the ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting on Transitional Crime Plus Three (SOMTC+3), which was approved last year.
Second, strengthening food security and water resource management are urgently important in addressing the challenges posed by climate change. As Thailand is home to the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) Secretariat, Thailand is ready to support the expansion of APTERR to support additional re
serves of other staple foods, as well as support the exchange of practices and expertise from +3 dialogue partners, especially in smart agriculture, including capacity building and knowledge exchange in water management technology.
Thirdly, the Prime Minister mentioned promoting financial stability through the establishment of the Rapid Financing Facility under the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralism (CMIM) to facilitate access to emergency funding sources, as well as supporting the use of local currencies in the APT mechanism, including the issuance of local currency bonds under the Asian Bond Markets Initiative.
In addition, in 2025, Thailand will chair the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), which has all ASEAN +3 countries as members. Thailand is committed to supporting negotiations and financial cooperation under the ACD framework to drive forward the United Nations’ funding for development.
In closing, the Prime Minister stressed that the joint efforts of the APT will be successful depending on the st
rong relations among the +3 Dialogue Partners, with ASEAN fully supporting good trilateral cooperation, which will be a positive driving force that will create more synergy within the APT framework, concluded Mr. Chirayu.
Source: Thai News Agency