MFA: Minister for Foreign Affairs of Thailand Don Pramudwinai to Finland

The Ministers will discuss the political situation, and democracy and human rights questions in Thailand, the bilateral relations between Finland and Thailand, the relations between the European Union and Thailand, as well as topical regional and multilateral issues. 

Thailand is Finland's second most important trading partner in Southeast Asia. In the commercial and economic cooperation, there is potential for growth in, for example, the ICT/digitalisation, energy, waste treatment and education export sectors. Thailand has been one of the favourite travel destinations for the Finns for years, and thousands of them live in the country in the Finnish winter season. The majority of the berry pickers in Finland come from Thailand.

In the past years, the exchange of visits between Finland and Thailand has been affected especially by the Thai military coups in 2006 and 2014. The EU froze official visit to Thailand in July 2014. In December 2017, the EU decided to resume political contacts at all levels with Thailand. The aim is that the negotiations for an EU–Thailand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will be continued after a democratically elected government is in place in Thailand.

Inquiries: Riikka Taivassalo, Special Adviser to the Foreign Minister, tel. +358 46 9234 581, and Marita Meranto, Desk Officer, Unit for Eastern Asia and Oceania, tel. +358 400 445 035.

The Foreign Ministry's email addresses are of the format firstname.lastname@formin.fi.