The conference "Thai-German Dialogue on the Green and Low Carbon Economy" which took place in Bangkok on 11 and 12 September 2013 was the starting point for a closer cooperation between the Federal Environment Ministry (BMU) and the Thai Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) and other Ministries of the Thai government.
Opening statements at the event were held by the Thai Secretary of State for the Environment, Chote Trachu, the Envoy of the German Embassy, Dr Ingo Winkelmann and the Director for European and International Environmental Policy of the Federal Environment Ministry, Dr Karsten Sach. 150 participants from government institutions, the private sector and academia from both countries as well as from international organisations took part in the event. The lively exchange covered the topics green economy, renewable energies and energy efficiency, climate action, adaptation to climate change and funding of climate action, water and flood management, life cycle management and fiscal instruments of environmental policies.
At the end of the conference the Federal Environment Ministry and the Thai Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment agreed to repeat this successful format on a regular basis. In the intermediate time between the events a policy steering group will discuss issues of interest to both countries on an annual basis and decide on priorities of their bilateral cooperation.
Focal areas of cooperation
Discussions between the delegation from the Federal Environment Ministry and the representatives of the Thai Energy Ministry, the Thai Energy Regulation Authority as well as the Greenhouse Gas Management Organisation and the Government Body for Greenhouse Gas Reductions centred around the international climate negotiations, the transformation of the German energy system and the expansion of renewable energies and ambitions in the energy efficiency field in Thailand.
The extensive dialogue was followed by two expert workshops to explore the topics in greater depth. One of the workshops was dedicated to the discussion of cooperation projects which receive support from the Federal Environment Ministry's International Climate Initiative and representatives from the Thai Energy Ministry and its subordinate bodies met in a second workshop to discuss the challenges of a transformation of the energy systems towards safe, affordable and environmentally friendly energy supply systems in Germany and Thailand as well as identify topics for future cooperation in this field.