Sasiwat Wongsinsawat, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Thailand to the Russian Federation, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Moldova and the Republic of Uzbekistan. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in political science and international relations from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and a master’s degree in international relations from International University of Japan. 

He has been in various positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand since 1988, including serving as Deputy Director General, Department of South Asian, Middle East and African Affairs, and Minister of the Permanent Mission of Thailand to the United Nations Office in Geneva. 

In an exclusive BRICSterview, he emphasised the importance of integration into global economic structures, the significance of free trade agreements with the EAEU and the interest of Thais in Russian culture and literature.

With over 30 countries expressing interest in joining BRICS, Thailand is among the applicants. What potential do you see for Thailand’s integration into BRICS and what motivates the country to pursue the membership in this group? 

We see a very high potential in BRICS as a new entity in global arena that can check the new system of interactions. Thailand not only expects to benefit from BRICS, but we also want to contribute to the BRICS process, particularly in the field of international financial system and also in the field of humanitarian and cultural cooperation. 

Thailand has a longstanding partnership with Russia. Recent trade figures indicated an increasing trade turnover between the two countries in the first half of 2024. 

Will Thailand’s free trade zone with the Eurasian Economic Union help expand cooperation with Russia and economic and trade sector? 

The free trade agreement between Thailand and the EAEU, the Eurasian Economic Union, would be very useful, not only for Thailand, but for both sides. Free trade agreement can be a very useful foundation and trade facilitation for businesses of our two countries.

Speaking about the import tax alone, with the lower or zero rate of import duties, our products – Thai products in Russia and Russian products in Thailand – will be very much more competitive comparing to products from other countries. We are not talking about the market of 65 million people of Thailand only. But we should look at the broader picture of the bigger market of at least mainland Southeast Asia or the whole ASEAN countries as a whole, which comprise of more than 500 million consumers.

Can you update us on the progress of negotiations regarding the Mir, the the Russian national payment system in Thailand? What impact do you anticipate it will have on economic interactions?

If we can conclude or if we can achieve the negotiation on the “Mir” system in Thailand, that would be very useful, not only for tourism, but also for other business interactions.

So it’s up to our bankers or our business sectors to continue negotiations, and maybe they need to find some solutions in order to achieve that goal.

One highlight of cultural exchange is the traditional Thai festival in Moscow. How do you view the significance of such events in the Russian capital and other plans for similar celebrations in other Russian cities? Can you imagine that it’s been 10 years already that we organised a Thai festival in Moscow?

I see the Thai festival as one of the most important platforms for us, for the embassy, to communicate with our Russian friends here, particularly in Moscow.

We have so many things that are not yet known to our friends here. So we try to change our theme every year. For example, last year we focused more or less on the creative economy and creative industries. But this year, we used the theme “Discovering Thailand from local to global”. We present all the cultural dimension of the locals in Thailand, particularly from the northeastern part of Thailand, which is known as Isan.

I’m very happy that Thai festival has been very successful. 

How would you assess the level of interest of Thai citizens in Russian culture and literature or language? 

I would say that there’s very high interest among people in Thailand in Russian culture, including its language and literature. Right now there are at least three leading universities in Thailand that offer courses in Russian language. There are Thai students who enroll in that kind of courses every year. The interest is growing. You have mentioned about literature. I can give you one very good example, the book called “The Brothers Karamazov” by Dostoyevsky.

“The Brothers Karamazov” was translated into Thai language many years ago. Now “The Brothers Karamazov” has become the collectible item. Some other works of Dostoyevsky are also read by the certain group of Thai people.

To watch the full BRICSterview, follow this link.

Photo: TV BRICS