On 12 February 2026, H.E. Mr. Vijavat Isarabhakdi, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, delivered a keynote address at the event “Scam-States and Crime Factories: Fraud Centers on an Industrial Scale in Southeast Asia,” organized by the Hanns Seidel Foundation at its headquarters in Munich. It was a side event on the margins of the Munich Security Conference 2026.

The Vice Foreign Minister underscored the far-reaching economic repercussions and threats to human security posed by the proliferation of industrial-scale scam centers across Southeast Asia. He highlighted Thailand’s comprehensive efforts to address this complex challenge, including victim assistance, robust law enforcement measures, and the imperative of multi-stakeholder cooperation in tackling the issue in a coordinated manner. He also articulated Thailand’s vision for effectively addressing this problem in the future.

The Vice Foreign Minister also held bilateral discussions with H.E. Mr. Georg Eisenreich, Bavarian State Minister of Justice, and Mr. Markus Ferber, Chairman of the Hanns Seidel Foundation. Both sides exchanged views on cybercrime, particularly cross-border fraud. The German side commended Thailand’s proactive role and concurred that addressing such challenges requires strengthened legal cooperation and enhanced intelligence-sharing among countries. The Thai side shared information on two upcoming meetings to be hosted by Thailand in cooperation with the European Union, namely the EU - Thailand for ASEAN Regional Seminar on Scam Fighting, jointly organized with ESIWA+, and the OSCE Asian Conference: Countering Transnational Threats in the Digital Era through Enhanced Cooperation in Asia and the OSCE Region, co-hosted with Finland. On economic cooperation, the State of Bavaria has opened its Trade and Investment Office for Southeast Asia in Bangkok. The Thai side also extended an official invitation to H.E. Mr. Markus Söder, Minister-President of Bavaria, to pay an official visit to Thailand.