Political Relations

The Kingdom of Thailand is the second economy in Southeast Asia and one of Uzbekistan's important international partners in the region. Thailand recognized the independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan on December 26, 1991. Diplomatic relations were established on May 6, 1992

May 6, 2020 the Uzbek-Thai diplomatic relations are 28 years old.

Political, economic, trade and cultural contacts established over the past years at various levels are developing at a steady pace. The Uzbek-Thai intergovernmental Commission on bilateral cooperation plays an important role in their development and maintenance. It considers and discusses issues of interaction in various spheres.

Uzbekistan and Thailand have almost no controversial issues. This creates a good basis for consolidating joint efforts within the UN and other international organizations, as well as on a bilateral basis, to deepen cooperation on a wide range of issues, including cooperation in the field of tourism, culture, sports, investment, the fight against human trafficking, drug trafficking and religious extremism.

The government of Thailand considering the role and importance of Uzbekistan in the Central Asian region and in the world, seeks to establish closer political, trade, economic, and cultural relations with the Republic. Officials of the Kingdom have repeatedly stated that the Thai side considers Uzbekistan as a "gateway to Central Asia".

In recent years, the exchange of visits by delegations at various levels has significantly expanded. Delegations of the ministries of investment and foreign trade, foreign Affairs, innovation development, General Prosecutor's office, the Tourist police of the interior Ministry, many other ministries and departments of Republic, and also representatives of a large number of businesses and entrepreneurs visited Thailand to participate in various international events, sharing experience, best practices, and establish direct business contacts and conclusion of contracts with Thai companies and businessmen

It should be noted that recently, the interest of Thai business circles in strengthening and expanding cooperation and business ties with Uzbekistan has also increased significantly. Over the past two years, numerous delegations from the foreign investment Council, the Institute of fiscal policy under the Ministry of Finance, the tourism Department, as well as potential investors from Thailand have visited Uzbekistan with great interest and pleasure, which they call "new, beautiful, open, good-natured and very nutritious"

The agro-industrial, food, chemical, textile, tourism, pharmaceutical, wine-making, and machine-building industries continue to be promising areas of economic cooperation between the two countries.

If in 2018. About one thousand Thai tourists visited Uzbekistan in 2019. figure has almost doubled and is close to 2 thousand. This is facilitated by the fact that more and more people in Thailand are learning about Uzbekistan, its ancient culture and modern development. In addition to the world-famous historical and cultural monuments of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, Thai citizens are invited to visit the ancient monuments of Buddhism in Termez.

The Consulate General of Uzbekistan in Bangkok is actively working with Buddhist organizations in Thailand to attract more pilgrims, offering them favorable conditions for visiting the Republic. For the convenience of tourists, the frequency of direct flights between Tashkent and Bangkok has been increased to five times a week. In 2019. for the first time, a delegation headed by the President of the world Alliance of Buddhists, P.Palamagamba with a visit to the cities of Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Termez. In Thailand itself, over the past year, more than 60 events were held to present the tourism potential of Uzbekistan to Thai tourism associations and companies, as well as the participation of Uzbek tour companies in the largest exhibition in Thailand "Thai International Tourism Fair"

Assessing the trade and economic cooperation between the Republic of Uzbekistan and Thailand, it should be recognized that the geographical distance between the countries hinders the successful development of trade. Due to high transport costs, these relations are characterized by insignificant volumes of bilateral trade. Despite the above-mentioned reasons, the Uzbek side is interested in increasing the volume of mutual trade.

To date, more than 20 investment projects are being implemented in Uzbekistan with the participation of Thai investments, including 6 enterprises with 100% Thai capital. It is important that interest in Uzbekistan among Thai investors is growing.

Undoubtedly, the experience accumulated over the past years and the achievements of bilateral cooperation will serve as a good basis for implementing the current desire of the parties to effectively use the existing potential of Uzbekistan and Thailand in the further development of fruitful and mutually beneficial relations.