Thailand

GIZ local staff

National employees: 145
International employees: 23
Integrated experts: 2

_{(as at: 31.12.2022)}

Germany and Thailand can look back on almost 60 years of cooperation for sustainable development. GIZ’s Academy for International Cooperation (AIZ) has established a training facility in Bangkok.  

Thailand has completed the transition from a developing to an emerging market economy and is achieving rapid growth. However, this has led to above-average emission levels, which in turn is generating strong demand for renewable energies and energy efficiency technologies. Like many South-East Asian countries, Thailand is struggling to manage the impacts of climate change, such as frequent floods and droughts. The transport system also falls far short of the standards required for a sustainable economy.

The Government of Thailand has embraced the concept of the ‘sufficiency economy’, which, while supporting economic growth, aims to ensure that the Thai people – particularly in rural communities – achieve greater self-sufficiency and reduce their reliance on international trade. Thailand is also committed to the international community’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and has ratified the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Thailand is now a donor, rather than a beneficiary, of international cooperation. GIZ currently focuses on three priority areas here:

• Climate: Thailand aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and improve its adaptation to climate change. Key areas of activity are climate policy, energy efficiency, renewable energies, refrigeration technology and sustainable water resources management.
• Triangular cooperation: Together with Germany, Thailand is supporting projects and programmes in third countries, with a focus on issues such as SME development and vocational training.
• Thailand now plays a leading role in the ASEAN region and hosts the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. Transport, agriculture, disaster risk reduction and optimisation of urban resources management are areas of cooperation here.

In Thailand, GIZ implements projects and programmes on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and the European Union. GIZ also works with a number of new funding partners, including the Toyota Motor Corporation and the Rockefeller Foundation, as well as with the Government of Thailand.