On 30 August, 2006, Mr. Antonio Guterres, former Prime Minister of Portugal and cur-rently the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, paid a visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was welcomed by Dr. Pracha Guna-Kasem, Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, on behalf of Foreign Minister Kan-tathi Suphamongkhon, who is now on a trip aboard.

Mr. Guterres is now visiting to Thailand as guest of the Foreign Minister during 28-31 August. This is his first of-ficial visit to Thailand in his capacity as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, although he has visited Thailand before in 1996 as then Prime Minister of Portugal.

The discussion between Dr. Pracha and Mr. Guterres covered such topics as on the ways to continue Thailand-UNHCR cooperation on the protection of migrants from Myanmar, further improvement of the quality of life of the misplaced persons under Thai authorities’ care, including the provision of education, and the promotion of Thailand’s humanitarian role in the region.

They also discussed the problems of North Korean and Hmong migrants in order to try to find the most suitable solution to their problems. Thailand and UNHCR have been enjoying close cooperation for 30 years, on the provision of humanitarian assistance to the refugees as well as the efforts to help finding solution to their problems, and the role of Thailand on these matters have been widely acknowledged and praised by the international community.

During this trip, apart from the visit to the Foreign Ministry, Mr. Guterres also called on Prime Minister Thaksin, DPM Surakiart and Chidchai, the Minister of Interior, the Minister of Education, and the Secretary-General of the Na-tional Security Council of Thailand.

On 29 August, he also went to Ratchaburi province to visit the temporary shelter area for migrants from Myanmar, accompanied by Ms. Ellen Sauerbrey, US Assistant Secretary of State in charge of the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.