February 12, 2024

Duckworth Meets with Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand

 

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee—met with Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara to discuss their shared priorities in building on the over 190 years of diplomatic relations between our two nations—an alliance that both have mutually benefitted from militarily, diplomatically, economically and culturally. B-roll of the Senator’s meeting is available at this link and photos of the Senator’s meeting are available at this link.

“For over 190 years, the United States and Thailand have helped one another grow and evolve militarily, diplomatically, economically and culturally,” said Duckworth. “As a proud Thai-American, it was a pleasure to welcome Deputy Prime Minister Bahiddha-Nukara to my office and discuss the ways we can build on our powerful, long-standing alliance. Time and again, it’s been proven that our nations are stronger and more prosperous when we support each other—and I look forward to continuing our work together to facilitate greater economic investments between our nations and build a brighter future for our people.”

Duckworth is a proven leader on strengthening our relations with Indo-Pacific nations and security in the region while successfully securing significant international investments in Illinois. Duckworth visited the Indo-Pacific region twice last year. On one of her two trips, she visited Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines to meet with government and business leaders and discuss opportunities that would increase cooperation in areas of mutual interest, such as economic investments, regional stability and national security.

In 2022, Duckworth also traveled to South Korea and Taiwan where she met with business, government and trade leaders, which helped lead to a joint venture between Illinois’s ADM and South Korea’s LG Chem, as well as a commitment from Taiwan to purchase an estimated $2.6 billion of our Illinois’s corn and soybeans. Duckworth also successfully included a modified version of her Strengthen Taiwan’s Security Act in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to help Taiwan strengthen its military defenses. In her time in the Senate she’s led trips to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore to help bolster U.S. relationships and partnerships.

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