During 22 – 26 February 2016, H.E. Mr. Pisanu Suvanajata, Ambassador of Thailand to Myanmar, led a Thai delegation comprising of officials of the Royal Thai Embassy, Yangon, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, on a border survey trip in Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son. The objective of this trip is to identify challenges and opportunities to the development of the border areas between Thailand and Myanmar.

            Ambassador Pisanu and his delegation commenced their trip by making on-site inspection to Huay Ton Noon – Mae Jae checkpoint (BP13) in Mae Hong Son and Kew Pa Wok – Pong Pa Jin checkpoint (BP1) in Chiang Mai. These two checkpoints have great potential for trade, tourism and people-to-people exchange.

            During the trip, Ambassador Pisanu also took the opportunity to meet with Mr. Pipat Aekpapun, Governor of Mae Hong Son Province, on 23 February 2016 and Mr. Pawin Chamniprasa, Governor of Chiang Mai Province, on 25 February 2016. In these separate meetings, they discussed broad range of issues and exchanged views on potential areas of cooperation with the objectives to bring peace and prosperity to border areas, and to further strengthen linkages between Northern Thailand and Upper Myanmar.

            Ambassador Pisanu also gave two separate talks during his trip. With the collaboration with Montfort College and the Thai Chamber of Commerce, the first lecture was given to Thai private sectors based in Northern Thailand to broaden their perspective on business opportunities in Myanmar during its transition and beyond. The other lecture on the overview of Thailand – Myanmar relations was given to police commanders under Provincial Police Region 5. With a view to sharing with them the rapid change in Myanmar’s political and socio-economic landscape, which is linked to bilateral cooperation on security and law enforcement in various fields including human trafficking, narcotics and illegal immigration.  

            The Royal Thai Government attaches priority to cooperation for development prospects with all neighbours, including Myanmar, with an aim to transforming the border zones into the areas of peace and prosperity. To realize this ambition, several development programmes have been initiated in partnership with the Government of Myanmar to improve the well-being of the two peoples.

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