BANGKOK, Nov 19 — Thailand and Japan jointly hosted an International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Environment, during which Thailand’s Science and Technology Minister Pichet Durongkaveroj reemphasised the government’s readiness to further improve the country’s science and technology.
More than 100 researchers and academics from 20 countries around the globe attended the conference at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi in Bangkok.
The conference was co-hosted by Japan’s Kyoto University, and is organised biennially with an aim to create a platform for science, technology and innovation relevant agencies to exchange knowledge and experience on each country’s energy and environment stability, climate change, and sustainability in developing and managing natural resources.
The main agenda for this year’s conference is “How science, technology, and innovation could help green sustainability within the ASEAN region”, as once the ASEAN Community (AC) is formed at the end of next year, the region will have a combined population of over 600 million people and along with it a rapidly growing economy and challenges in creating sustainable natural resources, energy and infrastructure.
Minister Pichet said in his opening speech that Thailand is now in the process of reform in all aspects.
For the science and technology sector, the nation is focusing on main goals including increasing research and development budgets to account for 1 per cent of total GDP, upgrading the skills of science personnel and creating young scientists, stimulating more investment in research and development in the private sector, as well as further developing the scientific infrastructure.
