The meeting is a forum for consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the two countries which mark 60 years of diplomatic relations, and a Memorandum of Understanding on Development Cooperation Program was signed.
On September 10, 2014, Nissim Ben Shitrit, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Sihasak Puangketkaew, Permanent Secretary at the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, jointly presided over the 8th meeting of the Israel-Thailand Working Group Dialogue at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok. High-level delegations from both sides also attended the meeting, which serves as a forum for consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Thailand and Israel.
This year, 2014, marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Thailand and Israel.
During the meeting, both sides discussed and exchanged views on regional issues, such as the ASEAN Community 2015 and developments in the Middle East, as well as bilateral issues, such as economic and trade opportunities, labour, technical cooperation, science and technology, culture and education.
Afterward, the co-chairs signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Development Cooperation Program between Thailand International Development Cooperation Agency (TICA) and Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV).
This MoU serves as the framework of development cooperation between Thailand and Israel, as well as the trilateral cooperation of Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Myanmar in the area of agriculture with focus on human resource development. A training course on Greenhouse Crop Production and Management at Kasetsart University will commence in the first quarter of 2015 as the first activity under this MoU.
This MoU is the result of the discussion between the Director-General of Thailand's International Development Cooperation Agency and the Head of Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the 7th Israel-Thailand Working Group Dialogue held in Jerusalem, Israel, to augment development cooperation between Thailand and Israel and to extend support to Thailand’s neighboring countries (Lao PDR, Cambodia and Myanmar) in the areas of agricultural technology, irrigation, water resource management, early childhood education and others.