On 10 February 2016, H.E. Mrs. Kanthong Unakul, Ambassador of Thailand hosted lunch in honour of Mrs. Kinga Gal, Member of the European Parliament of Hungary at the Thai Residence. They took the opportunity to discuss cooperation between ASEAN and EU during the term that Thailand is the coordinator for ASEAN-EU cooperation from 2015-2018, as well as how to promote Thailand-EU and Thailand-Hungary relations.

Ambassador Unakul informed that ASEAN has officially became one community since 31 December 2015. The 10 member countries of ASEAN consist of 600 million people which is an interesting market for EU and Hungary. Hungarian business could use Thailand as the base for investment in the region as it is located in the center of mainland Southeast Asia. Embassies of ASEAN countries in Hungary (Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam) in conjunction with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary are planning to organize a lecture about ASEAN on 1 April 2016. Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, former ASEAN Secretary-General and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand will be the keynote speaker.

Ambassador Unakul also informed Mrs. Gal that in April 2015 Thailand received yellow card from EU due to the problem of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. It is the priority and policy of the Royal Thai Government to combat this problem and move the fishery industry toward a more sustainable and environemntal-friendly direction. Much progress has been achieved in less than 1 year such as the enactment of new law, prosecution and the development of fishing vessel monitoring system.