Consul General Nitirooge Phoneprasert delivered a keynote speech at the Inaugural Session of the International Conference on Security and Prosperity in the Bay of Bengal at Le Meridien Hotel, Kochi, Kerala.

On 29 November 2022 Consul General Nitirooge Phoneprasert delivered a keynote speech at the Inaugural Session of the International Conference on Security and Prosperity in the Bay of Bengal organized by the Centre for Public Policy Research in collaboration with Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom South Asia at Le Meridien Hotel, Kochi, Kerala.

In his keynote address, the Consul General highlighted the importance of the Bay of Bengal and Thailand’s ascendance as the chair of BIMSTEC for the year 2022-2023. Furthermore, he underscored the following three strategic interests which will help deepen our engagement and drive the Bay of Bengal towards mutual growth and development, namely:
1. Improving the connectivity in the region. 
2. Focusing on advancing the Blue Economy in the Bay of Bengal region.
3. Emphasizing  the benefit of adoption of the Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy Model by all in the Bay of Bengal region. 
 
Additionally, the Consul-General stated that, "This conference would be good for the policy makers to take in the ideas from the conference to know what exactly can be done to help integrate and strengthen the progression of Bay of Bengal so that the core countries to this region could benefit from this network of cooperation.”
 
The Bay of Bengal region has attracted renewed attention in recent years with the emergence of the Indo-Pacific as a significant theathre of geopolitics. The region is home to around 20% of the world population with a combined GDP of US$ 2.7 Trillion and contains vast reserve of natural resources which could be a game-changer for the region's political economy.