Remarks by H.E. Mr. Sakthip Krairiksh Ambassador of Thailand on the Occasion of the Peace Corps’ 40th Year in Thailand
Remarks
by
H.E. Mr. Sakthip Krairiksh
Ambassador of Thailand
on the Occasion of the
Peace Corps’ 40th Year in Thailand
Friday 21 June 2002, 18.30 – 20.30 Hours
Ms. Carolyn Nickels-Cox, Board Chair of the Friends of Thailand,
Members of the Peace Corps Volunteers
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is both a pleasure and honour for me to welcome all of you to the Royal Thai Embassy.
Permit me at the outset to thank Ms. Carolyn Nickels-Cox and Mr. Mick Zenick for their initiative in bringing about a big gathering of the former Peace Corps in Thailand at tonight’s reception.
When I was told that the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers in Thailand will be in Washington, D.C. this month for an annual meeting, I took it as a good opportunity to host a reception here at the Embassy. I thought to myself that we should invite all of you here to celebrate the founding of the Friends of Thailand group and the fortieth anniversary of the Peace Corps’ presence in Thailand. It is also a way to show our recognition of the friendship and assistance you have extended to our people, particularly those disadvantaged and living in rural areas.
Indeed, over the past forty years, more than 5,000 Peace Corps Volunteers, including US Ambassador to Thailand Darryl Johnson as well as Congressman Tony Hall, have served in Thailand, providing help in a range of areas, from education to environmental preservation to health care.
All these endeavours have contributed immensely not only to the well-being of the Thai people whose lives you have touched, but also to the strong bond of friendship and understanding between our two countries and peoples, especially at the grass-roots level.
It is no wonder that many of the former Peace Corps still keep contact with their Thai friends in villages throughout the country for years and decades. The Peace Corps Volunteers have indeed served to link Thai and American values together. While many Thai villagers have learned how to speak English from Peace Corps Volunteers, we also found that many of the volunteers mingled well with the Thai E-Sarn or the northeastern peoples, enjoying their traditional meals of Khao Neow and Plarah .
This is symbolic, I believe, of ties between Thailand and the United States. Ours is a relationship driven by common values and shared beliefs; a partnership based upon mutual gain and respect; and a friendship forged during times of prosperity and uncertainty.
And it is upon such ideals that the Peace Corps has its roots.
I am therefore pleased that, in his State of the Union Address, President Bush had renewed the promise of the Peace Corps, pledging to double the number of volunteers over the next five years.
These and other efforts will do much to promote a better understanding of America throughout the world—an America that is compassionate and caring, and, as President Kennedy said so succinctly when he signed the Executive Order establishing the Peace Corps, one “sharing in the great common task of bringing to man that decent way of life which is the foundation of freedom and a condition of peace.”
On this note, Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish the Friends of Thailand group and all Peace Corps Volunteers the very best in all their future endeavours.
Thank you.
