ACD meeting in Saudi Arabia next year

The Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) ministerial summit will be held in Saudi Arabia next year, with Thailand as a coordinating country, according to a Thai Embassy official here.
Wijak Chittarat, charge d’affairs at the embassy, told Arab News yesterday that Thailand considers Saudi Arabia a large and strategic country. It wants to improve trade and economic ties with the Kingdom.
The 32-member ACD held its 11th meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in March this year where it emphasized the overall peace, stability and cooperation among member countries.
“I will do my best to restore normal relations with Saudi Arabia. If I am lucky, our trade and tourism relations will further improve during my tenure here," he said.
Chittarat, who is also the current dean of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) diplomats here in Saudi Arabia, will be launching various programs, including a charitable event for the benefit of Syrian refugees.
“As a new initiative, I need the support of my ASEAN colleagues, ambassadors and the host country.”
The diplomat was hopeful that direct flights from Saudi Arabia to Bangkok would resume and ease two-way travel.
“I arrived here only five months ago and started learning about the traditions and customs,” he said. He said his country has to do a lot of work after missing out on past opportunities.
On Thai tourism, the diplomat said 23 million tourists visited his country last year, including 15,000 from Saudi Arabia. They visited Thailand via Dubai, he said.
The ACD members who attended the meeting in Tajikistan earlier this year included Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kuwait, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, the Philippines, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.