The German-Southeast Asian Center of Excellence for Public Policy and Good Governance (CPG), based at the Faculty of Law, Thammasat University, Tha Prachan campus, has announced that on Thursday, 3 December 2020, there will be a panel discussion and reception on Europe’s Recovery and Responsibility in the World: A Dialogue with European and Thai Partners.

The event is co-organized by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the CPG.

The Thammasat University Library collection includes several books about different aspects of the recovery of the Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic as well as publications from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

The foundation is named in honor of Konrad Adenauer, a German politician who served as the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) from 1949 to 1963.

The TU Library owns several books about different aspects of the life and work of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.

The event will be held from 3pm to 5pm on Thursday, 3 December at the Lebua at State Tower Hotel, Bangkok.

It should be useful for students interested in history, political science, international relations, economics, law, European diplomacy, and related subjects.

As the CPG explains,

Turning the Covid-19 crisis into an opportunity to reaffirm Europe as a strong and united community, the European Council in July adopted a historic and extraordinary package of 750 billion Euro, in an unprecedented effort to cope with the political, economic, and societal fallouts of the global pandemic.

What are the potentials of this fund to strengthen European economies while addressing global challenges like climate neutrality and digital transformation? What are the implications for Europe as a global actor? Will this effort affect trade policy, and if so, what would be the strategic priorities informing the new approaches to trade? What roles might ASEAN and Thailand play in that environment? Concretely, a Free Trade Agreement between Thailand and the EU has yet to be finalized. In terms of foreign policy, Germany and the Netherlands published recently new strategies for the Indo-Pacific, after France did in 2018, raising the possibility that the EU as a whole may soon have a common strategy for the region too. We will discuss these and related topics in this moderated panel discussion. The event will be followed by a reception for all panelists and participants.

Among participants are Mr. Sasiwat Wongsinsawat, Director-General, Department of European Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand and Dr. Céline-Agathe Caro, Director, Office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Thailand.

Related events

Among past related events organized and presented by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, on 15 June,  a workshop was held on Green Recovery Plans in Thailand to Restart the Economy after the Coronavirus Outbreak. Thai scholars discussed options to create jobs and protect the environment like sustainable tourism, circular economy, and clean energies.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, countries around the globe are working towards recovery plans for the time after the lockdown. Most of these plans are highly debated in terms of aligning economic stimulus packages with climate and energy transition targets or other sustainable goals. KAS RECAP (Regional Project Energy Security and Climate Change Asia-Pacific) has launched a series of virtual workshops in Asia-Pacific in order to identify and examine those debates. In cooperation with KAS Thailand, a discussion took place on June 15, 2020, with Thai experts from various universities, non-governmental organizations, and state agencies.

As the report stated:

• The current worldwide coronavirus outbreak shows how much human activities impact the environment, the Thai experts acknowledged. Thailand would miss an opportunity to address environmental and climate protection if it adopts a short-term approach prioritizing traditional industrial sectors and unsustainable infrastructure projects. In order to boost growth and create jobs after the crisis, the participants recommended focusing political will and state incentives on following challenges instead:
• Sustainable tourism: Tourism is a key issue for Thailand’s economy and a lot could be done to welcome millions of tourists differently in the next years, according to several experts. One suggestion was to build on Thailand’s tradition of nature protection and a strong network of protected areas.
• Green rural development: Many experts emphasized the need to reduce energy consumption and the use of chemicals in the agricultural sector. They welcomed the government’s recent decision to ban two chemicals found in pesticides or insecticides (paraquat and chlorpyrifos) and generally considered toxic to humans.
• Clean energy and industry: Beside energy efficiency, experts pleaded in favor of responsible energy production, the expansion of renewable energies, and environmental regulations for the industry. They recommended introducing WHO standards for power plants’ and factories’ emissions, and developing solar energy. This approach would also help tackle the issue of air pollution in the country.
• Circular economy: This concept belongs to the “BCG principles” currently emphasized by the Thai government (BCG stands for Bio-Economy, Circular Economy, and Green Economy). The further development of circular economies, especially for plastic, waste, and water, would protect the environment and create jobs, many scientists from the panel said. But, it requires new technologies and education on the ground for the people to adapt.
• Pro-environmental human behavior: Changing production and consumption habits could also have a positive impact on the environment and the labor market. To reach this goal, educational measures and community engagement are key, so many experts. New technologies could be useful to reach out to the citizens and help them adapt. For example, many projects are currently focused on helping farmers to find alternatives to crop burning in Northern Thailand.
• All in all, the experts agreed that both poverty and weak infrastructures (e.g. in the waste, water, and energy sector) are long-term challenges that need to be addressed successfully. Otherwise, it will impede real improvements in terms of environmental and climate protection. Also, a green economic recovery will only be possible if three actors are committed to the strategy and willing to work together: the government and the administration, the production sector (industry, agriculture, services), and the citizens.

Among speakers at the 3 December event will be Dr. Warawit Kanithasen, CPG Senior Research Fellow; H. E. Georg Schmidt, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Thailand; Dr. Giuseppe Busini, Deputy Head of Mission, Delegation of the European Union to Thailand; and H. E. Kasit Piromya, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, Deputy Director General, Department of Trade Negotiations, Ministry of Commerce of Thailand.

The event will be moderated by Dr. Deekana Tipchanta, Faculty of Social Science, Mahidol University International College.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)