On 24 November 2021, the Royal Thai Embassy in Manama in cooperation with the Department of ASEAN Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Afro-Asian Sector, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain co-organised the Virtual Workshop on “ASEAN as a driving force for regional cooperation and partnerships,” to share with Bahrain an overview of ASEAN and ASEAN’s Community-building,  economic opportunities in ASEAN, as well as the path towards forging ASEAN-Bahrain cooperation. 

A total of 42 people participated in the workshop, including government officers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain, and 12 other Bahraini government agencies, as well as ambassadors and embassy representatives from the four ASEAN Member States in Bahrain.

Ms. Usana Berananda, Director-General of the ASEAN Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand, delivered her opening remarks, emphasising the importance of strengthening relations and cooperation between ASEAN and the GCC within the ASEAN-GCC framework. She particularly highlighted cooperation between ASEAN and Bahrain, the first GCC country to accede to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, or TAC, during the 35th ASEAN Summit in Bangkok in 2019, for the achievement of mutually beneficial strategic partnership between the two regions.

H.E. Ambassador Dr. Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Undersecretary for Political Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain, also delivered opening remarks, underlining the significance of this workshop as an important step forward in building greater ties with ASEAN and Bahrain’s interest to become a Sectoral Dialogue Partner of ASEAN.

The participants at the workshop had the opportunity to learn from and exchange views and questions with Mrs. Chatvadee Chindawongse, Director of ASEAN Strategy and Cooperation Division, and Ms. Tida Sukeelap, Director of ASEAN Economic Division, ASEAN Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand. Topics of particular interest were about the procedures for applying for the status of Sectoral Dialogue Partner of ASEAN, ways to strengthen ties between ASEAN and Bahrain through the ASEAN Centre for Sustainable Development Studies and Dialogue (ACSDSD) and other ASEAN-led mechanisms, and Bahrain’s interest to cooperate with ASEAN in areas of mutual benefit such as transport and cultural exchange.

This Virtual Workshop is one of the concrete outcomes of the 2nd Mid-year Review for the Third Meeting of the High Joint Commission (HJC) for Bilateral Cooperation between the Kingdom of Thailand and the Kingdom of Bahrain on 2 August 2021 in Manama, the Kingdom of Bahrain.