On 9th June 2011 Thailand’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, H.E. Kasit Piromya, visited the Hanns Seidel Foundation’s headquarters in Munich, welcomed by the Chairman of the Foundation, Minister of State (ret.) Dr. Hans Zehetmair. For more than 20 years HSF is engaged in Thailand. Dr. Zehetmair pointed out, that the country is regarded as a very important strategic location for the foundation’s international cooperation in Southeast Asia.

In the course of the meeting, joined by several staff of the Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Director of the Foundation’s Institute for International Cooperation, Mr. Christian Hegemer, the participants discussed possibilities of intensifying the bilateral cooperation. The Foundation is engaged in promoting the rule of law and the development of rural cooperatives. In particular Mr. Kasit Piromya welcomed the cooperation between HSF and the Thammasat University of Bangkok, which is aiming to professionalize the judiciary on the local level in the South and North of Thailand. There are even plans to contribute to the improvement of constitutional law structures.

Recently HSF has increased the value of its Bangkok Office, which used to be a branch of HSF Singapore Office in the past. Since 2010 the Bangkok location is an independent HSF office with a permanent representative.

Mr. Kasit’s visit in Munich was part of a program, wherein he participated in the 10th Asia-Europe Foreign Minister’s Meeting in Budapest and visited the International Court of Justice in The Hague.