On 15 - 16 February 2016, General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of Thailand, attended the ASEAN-U.S. Special Leaders’ Summit in Sunnylands, Rancho Mirage, California, at the invitation of The Honourable Mr. Barack Obama, President of the United States. The meeting aims to reaffirm the importance of ASEAN Community to the U.S. and represented a significant outcome of the “Strategic Rebalancing” policy of the U.S.

         The Summit is the first meeting between the leaders of ASEAN Member States and the U.S. after the official establishment of the ASEAN Community and the elevation ASEAN-U.S. relations to “Strategic Partnership” at the end of last year.

         Over the course of the Summit, the leaders discussed the ways forward for enhancing cooperation between both sides, focusing on economic, political and security cooperation. On Economic cooperation, the leaders exchanged their views on promoting public-private partnership further utilizing innovation and technology to drive economic growth. In this regard, President Obama invited the CEOs of leading American companies, such as Microsoft, IBM and CISCO Systems, to share their views with ASEAN leaders. On political and security issues, the leaders exchanged their views on maritime security, terrorism, transnational challenges and regional situation. 

         The Prime Minister expressed his appreciation for the invitation and hospitality extended by President Obama, and shared his vision on how to strengthen the partnership between ASEAN and the U.S. He also stressed the importance of expanding trade and investment, building capacities of entrepreneurs by utilizing technology and innovation, developing digital economy to enhance capabilities of people as well as narrowing development gap. Furthermore, the Prime Minister exchanged his views on regional strategic outlook, including situation in the South China Sea and the Korean Peninsula. Other issues discussed included climate change, measures to tackle non-traditional challenges such as terrorism and violent extremism, human trafficking, which is one of the dimensions to solve illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

         The Summit issued the “Sunnylands Declaration”, a Joint Statement containing key principles guiding the cooperation between ASEAN and the U.S. under the “ASEAN-U.S. Strategic Partnership” in accordance with the principles and objectives of the UN Charter, the ASEAN Charter and international laws.

         The Prime Minister also took the opportunity to have a bilateral meeting with the H.E. Nguyen Tan Dung, Prime Minister of Vietnam and discussed issues of mutual concerns and to meet with a group of Thai scientists and professionals who work in the U.S. and Canada and exchanged views on how to further promote stability and prosperity for Thailand.