Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Tuesday, we had a school field trip to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the Ministry, we learned about Association of South East Asian Nations, or ASEAN. It is an organization with goals similar to those of the European Union. ASEAN member countries want to facilitate trade among each other and with outside countries as well. Although ASEAN was founded in 1967, it has had few notable accomplishments. Beginning in December 2015, ASEAN will begin taking steps to amp up trade in the region and to expand transport infrastructure in the entire region. I think ASEAN will become a major player in global politics and economics as countries such as China, Russia, and the US have serious interests in the region. However, I think that the biggest issue facing ASEAN is that a majority of the countries don't exactly have democracies, despite arguing otherwise. Many of the countries have military regimes and have faced coups in past decade or so.

I wanted to take an ASEAN integration course at school here, but the credits would not have been transferred back to CC in a way that would have been beneficial toward my graduation requirements. Many of my classmates are taking the course and find it very extremely interesting and beneficial because ASEAN will become important in the near future. I really hope that CC will actually require all students that come to Rangsit to take the course rather than prevent them from doing so…

The lecture about ASEAN was about 50 minutes long so there were only 10 minutes for questions, but it was still very informative. After, we split into two groups. My group went to the PR department which discussed its initiatives to inform the people of Thailand about ASEAN and how it will affect them. Our group finished really early so we all got to hang around and socialize. I really like talking with the other International College students, answering questions about the US and asking questions about their countries.

Some of Group 2 hanging in the VIP reception area (which we
got kicked out of)