On 1 August 2012, H.E. Mr. Rathakit Manathat met with Mr Refik Gökçek, President of the Turkish-Thai Business Council, at the Istanbul Airport Hotel, on his transit to Bangkok to attend the Annual Ambassadorial Meeting in Thailand. During the meeting, Mr. Gökçek signed on the book expressing his loyal well wishes for Her Majesty Queen Sirikit in the auspicious occasion of Her Majesty’s Royal Birthday on 12 August.  

 

The Ambassador later on discussed on the preparation of the visit to Istanbul of H.E. Mr. Jullapong Nonsrichai, Vice Foreign Minister of Thailand. Mr Gökçek, through the Ambassador, extended the Council’s invitation to the Vice Minister to meet with the Council’s Board Members on 6 September 2012 to further enhance economic relations between Thailand and Turkey. 

During his visit, the Vice Minister will also meet with the Thai community in Istanbul as well as members of the Thai Student Association in Turkey. Presently there are around 264 Thais living in Istanbul and about 59 Thai students studying in various parts of Turkey.

 

With regards to the planned joint meeting between Thailand-Turkey Business Councils counterparts in Bangkok in November 2012, the two also exchanged views on ways to enrich the activities during the trip. The Ambassador also conveyed his mission’s full support on the joint meeting. 

 

They also explored the possibility of combining the Embassy's project of inviting additional Turkish business people in various provinces, such as Ankara, Izmir, and Antalya, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ‘s financial support, to make the meeting more inclusive and effective. To make the trip more result-oriented in enhancing economic ties, the Royal Thai Embassy will arrange the Turkish delegation to meet with Thailand’s high-level decision makers in the economic field.  Both sides also explored the possibility of arranging the Turkish businessmen to meet their counterparts in other provinces in order to appreciate economic opportunity offered by Thailand in the fields that they share common interests.