2023 marks the 190th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the United States and Thailand. Elite+ was fortunate to sit down with HE Ambassador Robert F Godec, despite his busy and hectic schedule, to talk about this significant milestone. Ambassador Godec only arrived in Thailand a year ago, but he has great plans for 2024 and beyond as he explained how he and the Embassy are launching a decade of new initiatives to strengthen the U.S.-Thailand partnership.
Ambassador Godec is a career diplomat although he admitted to stumbling into diplomacy by accident. Prior to taking over the ambassadorship in Thailand, Ambassador Godec served two postings as ambassador to Tunisia and Kenya. Other overseas postings included Germany and South Africa. An avid runner who enjoys jogging in Lumpini Park, Ambassador Godec understands the importance of engaging with the public to understand the culture and history of the places he has been posted. He reiterated the significant importance of the 190th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Thailand. “I feel privileged to lead a very large U.S. government organization here, which is one of the largest U.S. missions abroad. To underscore the extraordinary friendship between Thailand and the United States over the span of 190 years, Thailand is really America's first friend in Asia, the first country we established diplomatic relations with. Over the decades, we have achieved much, from increased trade and investment to improving health care challenges, combating climate change and addressing environmental problems.
“Last March, the United States brought its largest trade mission to Thailand with the aim of building mutual prosperity. We have begun to work on a new programme that will link together American and Thai universities whose objective is not only to increase the number of Thai students going to study in the U.S., but also encourage American students and academics to come to Thailand to foster student, faculty and research exchanges.”
In January 2024, Ambassador Godec will officially inaugurate an art exhibition called “Weaving our Stories”. The project brought a Thai-American artist to Thailand, who visited more than 30 weaving communities as well as weaving communities in the U.S. Her extraordinary art piece installation will be on display at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) in the coming months. According to Ambassador Godec, “The thought behind the project is to present our 190 years of bilateral ties like a tapestry, woven with so many different threads, from government to government, business to business, university to university, artists to artists and, of course, people to people.”
As Thailand is one of the founding members of ASEAN, Ambassador Godec admitted that there are extraordinary opportunities to introduce in Thailand and extend regionally. “Many embassy staff here work regionally on everything from agricultural to environmental issues and health matters. We are also seeing a lot of U.S. companies come and base themselves in Thailand to work regionally. One prime example is Ford producing cars here, which are then exported regionally. International media also uses Bangkok as a hub to cover regional news.”
Ambassador Godec elaborated further on what they are doing around the region. “In Thailand, the U.S. government supports medical research to combat diseases like malaria, Japanese encephalitis and dengue fever. The cooperation between Thailand and U.S. doctors and medical researchers has literally saved millions of lives around the world. Another example of our work here is the regional financial centre for the State Department. We have a USAID mission that conducts a lot of regional work here, not just for Thailand, but, for example, also the Mekong area, focusing on the environment and other priorities."
On the subject of Thai entrepreneurs who may be interested in investing in the U.S., Ambassador Godec advised, “We are always happy to assist Thai businesses, big and small entrepreneurs, to engage in investment or trade in the U.S. Examples are Banpu, which is now the largest producer of natural gas in Texas, Thai Union, investing in companies like Red Lobster, and CP Group, producing shrimp in Florida. Aside from large Thai enterprises, we also welcome smaller Thai entrepreneurs and businesses to invest and sell in the U.S. Recently, we helped two small Thai companies that are part of Chulalongkorn University's CU Innovation Hub to join a program called Select USA, which is a very large business matching event where we help to connect foreign small entrepreneurs with American capital and partners.
“We also partnered with Amazon Global and Thai organizations such as the Bank of Thailand and others to provide a basic workshop for small businesses in northern Thailand. This has helped them to understand how they can sell in the U.S. market and the procedures to follow. The embassy is also working with U.S. companies such as Apple, Amazon and Google to do digital upskilling to help train Thai workers, particularly women, to give them more digital skills so they are then able to contribute to the Thai economy in new ways.”
Ambassador Godec arrived in Thailand when the country was reopening after the Covid-19 pandemic. He thus commented, “I am very glad that situations have been returning increasingly to normal. However, there are a few things that we should highlight and learn from this pandemic. One lesson is that disease poses a real threat. Attention should be paid to the risks that the spread of diseases can pose. Humanity needs to be prepared. Another key issue is supply chains. Having all our production and manufacturing located in one place poses a real risk if problems happen. Supply chains should therefore diversify, and some U.S. companies are now looking at shifting part of their production to Thailand to solve these concerns.”
Even though he arrived only one year ago, Ambassador Godec has travelled to about 30 provinces in Thailand. Like the over 100,000 Americans residing in the Kingdom, he appreciates the opportunity to travel, meet Thais in local communities and sample different regional cuisines. Whenever travelling upcountry, Ambassador Godec will try to meet with members of the American community spread across the country to connect as he also places great importance on the security of U.S. citizens.
Ambassador Godec is impressed with the rich history of Thai culture. “Thailand is a truly remarkable country, and Thais are wonderful people. I have found great joy to connect with the Thai people and learn from them. For example, it is stimulating to understand more about the Buddhist traditions here and family life. Learning various aspects of Thai culture, trying to speak more ‘Pa-Sa-Thai’, the Thai language, is to build a bridge between Americans and the Thai people. This experience is truly rewarding.”
As our interview drew to a close, Ambassador Godec added, “With the new Thai government now in place, there are increasing interests to build on trade with an emphasis on investment by U.S. companies. Building on these favourable conditions, we are looking for ways to bring more trade delegations, additional individual business engagements, specific investments and ultimately, more trade. Aside from the business front, we are also working more in terms of higher level engagements and scientific exchanges, for example, to explore the opportunity for NASA to work with Thailand.
“My focus here is on how we may take our strong partnership forward and achieve an even higher level. Based on the decades of actions and activities, we strive to create new programmes and engagements to further advance cooperation between the United States and Thailand.”
