Statement of
Miss Suchada Thaibunthao
Deputy Director - General
Thailand International Development Cooperation Agency (TICA)
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand
at the Twelfth Round Table Meeting for Bhutan
11 – 12 December 2013, Convention Hall, Thimphu, Bhutan
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Mr. Chairman, Hon’bel Lyonpo Rinzin Dorje, Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Royal Government of the Kingdom of Bhutan ,
H. E. Mr. Haoliang Xu, UN Assistant Secretary-General, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Regional Director, Asia and the Pacific,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is an honor for me to be invited to participate in the Twelfth Round Table Meeting for Bhutan. I would like to express our sincere appreciation to the Royal Government of Bhutan for the efforts made in organizing this meeting. This meeting of minds is an opportunity for constructive and open dialogue between the Royal Government of Bhutan and cooperating partners toward the Sixth Five- Year Plan of which an ambitious agenda is Self-reliance and Inclusive Green Socio-Economic Development.
I strongly believe that the contribution from cooperating partners will provide pragmatic ideas in moving development cooperation forward for benefit of the Royal Government of Bhutan in implementing the Eleventh Plan.
In recognition with the rich document, the Eleventh Five-Year Plan document provides us with three strategic thrust areas, targeted programs, national key result areas & key performance indicators, sectoral plans, local government plan, and monitoring and evaluation arrangements as well. The strategic framework and measures addressed will provides clearly direction of the cooperation between the Royal Government of Bhutan and cooperating partners for sustainable development in the next five years.
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Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thailand had learnt as a recipient country for forty years that sense of ownership, alignment of aid, and absorptive capacity are the key factors to make cooperation programme effective and achieved. Therefore, our cooperation programme with Bhutan is based on Demand–driven approach to ensure that our support meet the real needs of the Royal Bhutan government and consistent with the National Development Plan of Bhutan. We strongly support and encourage Bhutanese government to participate at all stage of cooperation programs or projects starting from planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation these processes are to build up capacity of Bhutanese and for sustainable development.
Thailand is of the view that people as national assets are the fundamental key to success in national development, the sharing of knowledge, experience and best practices to build up capacity and competency of human capital be a mean of achieving sustainable development, therefore, human resource development has long been at the top of development agenda in Thailand Cooperation programmes.
During 2005 to 2013, two hundred and ten Bhutanese have been awarded to study master degree programs in the field of agriculture, education, public health, political science, social science, and public administration etc. at Thai Universities. And also two hundred and forty Bhutanese officials have participated in short-term trainings and study visit programmes in Thailand.
I am very pleased to learn that Thailand and Bhutan Technical Cooperation Programme is still in line with policy framework of Bhutanese government and response to the implementation measures for the Eleventh National Plan.
The Annual Consultation on technical cooperation between Thailand and Bhutan in September 2013, Thailand commits to provide technical cooperation to Bhutan in the next three years in the form of one hundred and fifty scholarships for Bhutan to undertake Master’s degree levels at Thai universities, and one hundred thirty five fellowships to participate in short-term trainings and study visit programs in Thailand in the fields that will be proposed by Bhutanese
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side and Thai side has capacity to provide. And also dispatching Thai volunteers to work side by side with Bhutanese as requested.
Thailand’s efforts to reach out and share development experiences are not limited to fellowships and scholarships, we would like to strengthen cooperation in enhancing capacity and information sharing in the form of development projects in the key sectors which Thailand considers as the foundation for national development which are:
Agriculture: to increase productivity and food safety to ensure that all Bhutanese have access to sufficient, safe and nutritional foods to meet their basic needs.
Public Health: to encourage the access to basic health care service of the people to have healthy life.
Sustainable Development: based on his majesty’s the King of Thailand’s initiative on sufficiency economy, the philosophy encourages people to be self-reliant and actively participate in the family, community, and national level that ultimately lead to a sustainable development.
Excellencies,
As an upper middle income aid provider, Thailand realizes the need to respond to the changing realities and international development policies. It is also our responsibility to participate vigorously in the process of international standard setting and globally thinking to address the concern of Aid Effectiveness.
I believe that there are many pathways towards improved aid effectiveness, and that countries need to determine their own priorities, pace and sequencing, building on their development achievement and learning from other success in the region.
As I said from the beginning, sense of ownership is the foundational principle for aid effectiveness. The importance of demand – driven cooperation must be emphasize to the national development process in the country context, of which Thailand has stimulated through the involvement of the recipient country from the beginning of the programme to ensure its Ownership as well as mutual understanding. The efforts are needed to ensure that the ODA is aligned with national development needs and priorities of cooperating countries, and be implemented with full national ownership and in coordination with cooperating partners.
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We also want to get more involved from all partners gatering here, in the spirit of partnership on a balance approach to address the issue of undeniable Harmonization. We believe in coherent plan for cooperation by increasing use of programme-based aid which will contribute significantly in term of complementarity. The concept of harmonization should be implemented with vigor among cooperating partners. We also realize the need of partnership cooperation with other developed countries which have been our key modality to extend our technical cooperation to others.
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Indeed, we encouraged the Royal Government of Bhutan in preparing ‘Development Cooperation Plan’ to support the Eleventh Five Years Plan. The development cooperation plan should reflect development cooperation programme, and also provide us the background and general guidelines for decisions-making and planning processes.
Moreover, this Development Cooperation Plan could be a framework for channeling cooperation in response to the Five Years Plan. This plan should identify sectoral cooperation requirements and help to promote coordinated of cooperation. It is clear that cooperating partners’ view this document as an expression of policy needs by the Royal Government of Bhutan since it indicates priority areas in which cooperating partners may direct their resources. Undoubtedly, the Royal Government of Bhutan agencies should be encouraged to utilize this document as a point of reference in the preparation of development project proposals. I hope that this document will bring aid effectiveness to our partner development.
While recognizing that the task ahead is tremendous, Thailand will work closely with our partners and with international community to attain our common endeavour in aid effectiveness. I also believe that the concerted efforts and cooperative spirit of our partners will help to guide our development cooperation program towards sustainable growth and development. Let me reaffirm here that we are more ready to discuss every possible means in promoting a closer cooperation for mutual benefits of our two countries and a closer relationship of our people in the future.
Thank you.
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