The United States is looking forward to promoting trade and investment, and education diplomacy with Thailand’s new government, according to Ambassador Robert F Godec.
Speaking in Bangkok on Thursday during a US Independence Day event, he said US-Thai relations are almost 200 years old, and the US has worked with various Thai governments.
The ambassador highlighted two priorities — trade and investment and education — as areas he wants to work on when the new Thai government is in place.
He said Thai exports to the US had expanded by 50% in the past few years, and the US is one of the largest markets for Thailand.
Imported products from Thailand include machinery, rubber, optical and medical instruments and agricultural products, he said.
Moreover, the first shipment of 864 kilogrammes of Thai pomelo was shipped to the US on Monday for the first time, he said.
Hundreds of US companies have invested in Thailand with billions of dollars, he said, noting Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing division of Amazon.com Inc, announced last year it would invest US$5 billion (177 billion baht) in Thailand over the next 15 years to strengthen its infrastructure.
“There are still additional opportunities for us that we can continue to build an economic partnership that helps provide 200,000 Thais jobs from all the American investments, and I think we can take that number higher, and I think we can continue to build more trade and investment partnerships,” he said.
Furthermore, he said that many people across the globe come to work in the US, especially in technology, and Thais are also welcome to work in this industry, and there are a lot of opportunities waiting for Thais.
On education, he emphasised the notion of education for everybody, particularly for young people.
He said that there would be a lot of opportunities for both Thailand and the US to explore, such as having more exchange students from both countries ranging from secondary to graduates.
The cooperation also includes academic and research exchanges and collaborations.