At the invitation of the Thai foreign minister, Bhutan participated at the 14th Asian Cooperation dialogue (ACD) in Bangkok which ended yesterday.

Foreign affairs minister Damcho Dorji led the Bhutanese delegation.

The 14th ACD ministerial meeting was themed “ACD – The Way Forward” and discussed regional economic integration; interconnectivity; sustainable development and mechanisms on further strengthening the ACD process.

The meeting also considered reprioritizing the existing 20 areas of cooperation under six priority pillars.

The outcome of the meeting is to be submitted to the 2nd ACD Summit which is tentatively scheduled to be held in October 2016 in Thailand. The ministerial meeting also formally endorsed the accession of Nepal as its 34th member country.

On the sidelines of the ACD meeting, Lyonpo also held a bilateral meeting with the Thai foreign minister, Don Pramudwinai. The two sides discussed ways of further enhancing relations between the two countries. Lyonpo also met the UNESCAP Executive Secretary (Dr) Shamshad Akhtar.

ACD is a Asia-wide cooperation framework established in June 2002 with the main objective of promoting Pan-Asian cooperation, expanding trade and financial markets within Asia and enhancing Asia’s economic competitiveness in the global market. Bhutan became a member of ACD in 2004.