FM Don heads to Saudi with hundreds-strong Thai trade delegation
Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai will lead hundreds of representatives from Thailand’s energy, tourism and export sectors on a trip to Saudi Arabia from Sunday to Thursday (May 15-19). The trip aims to restore cooperation and investment after a decades-long freeze in Thai-Saudi relations.
Ties thawed in January when Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha paid an official visit to the desert kingdom.
Don will hold talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Investment Minister Khalid A Al-Falih during next week’s trip.
Don and his team will also visit a festival to promote Thai halal food exports, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Meanwhile Thai-Saudi investment and business-matching forums next week are expected to bring together about 300 participants, it added.
Don and his team will also visit the King Abdullah Economic City in Jeddah, and Al-'Ula, a cultural heritage city, to explore ways to promote cooperation and investment in tourism and hospitality between the two countries.
Riyadh cut trade and diplomatic ties with Bangkok after the so-called Blue Diamond affair, in which the theft of jewels by a Thai worker from a Saudi palace in 1989 was followed by a series of killings of Saudi representatives in Thailand.