On 5 January 2023, H.E. Mr. Tanee Sangrat, Ambassador of Thailand to the United States attended the ASEAN Committee in Washington working lunch with Ms. Lindsey W. Ford, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia, and Dr. Jung H. Pak, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multilateral Affairs and for Global China issues. The event was hosted at the Embassy of Brunei Darussalam, which Ambassadors or Chargé d’affaires from all ASEAN members attended.

The U.S. side discussed successful activities during last year, especially the frequent high-level exchange of visits between the two sides, which culminated in the ASEAN-U.S. Special Summit in May. In addition, the activities planned for this year such as technical cooperation in legal matters and joint exercises were also discussed. When asked to choose one priority for the U.S.-ASEAN cooperation this year, the U.S. responded that it wished that ASEAN Countries would understand that the U.S. perceive ASEAN as a crucial partner.

Ambassador Tanee opined that the ASEAN-U.S. relations have grown stronger and ASEAN countries can certainly feel this closer ties for more than a decade but ASEAN wished to see more trade and investment from the U.S., which would yield tangible benefits for ASEAN people. In addition, warmer ties and closer cooperation between the U.S. and China would go a long way for the prosperity for ASEAN and the world; and would possibly help us to solve critical problems of the day such as climate change.