The

State of Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

and the

Kingdom of Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

formed diplomatic relations in 1980. Their cooperation mainly revolves around tourism and energy. According to the Thailand Labour Ministry, in 2017 there were 1,188 Thai citizens working in Qatar, and were mainly concentrated in the massage services industry and the construction industry. Employment laws regarding Thai workers in Qatar were negotiated and signed into agreement in 2012.

Diplomatic representation

Qatar has maintained an embassy in Thailand's capital

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

since 2004. Thailand has had an embassy in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the count ...

, Qatar since 2002.

Diplomatic visits

Emir

Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Hamad bin Abdullah bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani ( ar, حمد بن خليفة الثاني; born 1 January 1952) is a member of the ruling Al Thani Qatari royal family. He was the ruling Emir of Qatar from 1995 ...

made his first visit to Thailand in April 1999.

Economic relations

Qatar and Thailand have close links in the

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...

and

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...

industries. Among the GCC members, Qatar is Thailand's third most important trading partner, and its main supplier of

LNG Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...

as of 2013, supplanting

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

in that category. Thailand is the most visited

health tourism Medical tourism refers to people traveling abroad to obtain medical treatment. In the past, this usually referred to those who traveled from less-developed countries to major medical centers in highly developed countries for treatment unavailable a ...

destination for Qataris. Around 30,000 Qataris visited Thailand in 2014. Qatar's main exports are crude oil, LNG,

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

-based products,

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

s, chemical products, and fertilizers. Thailand primarily exports cars, machinery, jewelry, food items and air conditioners to Qatar. In 2009, the trade volume between Qatar and Thailand was valued at $3.17 billion. This number increased to $4.3 billion 2013. The first time Thailand received an LNG shipment from Qatar's main gas company, QatarEnergy LNG, was in 2011. An agreement was signed between the two nations in 2012 for Qatar to supply Thailand with 2 million tonnes of LNG annually for 20 years starting in 2015. QatarEnergy LNG opened a representative office in Bangkok as part of the deal. The first shipment of LNG supplied as per the deal arrived in Thailand in January 2015. Qatar's first LNG shipment to Thailand via

Q-Max Q-Max is a type of ship, specifically a membrane type LNG carrier. In the name Q-Max, "Q" stands for Qatar and "Max" for the maximum size of ship able to dock at the Liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in Qatar. Ships of this type are the large ...

vessel, the largest LNG carrier in the world, came in August 2017. Thailand's Siam Cement Group and

QatarEnergy QatarEnergy ( ar, قطر للطاقة), formerly Qatar Petroleum (QP), is a state owned petroleum company of Qatar. The company operates all oil and gas activities in Qatar, including exploration, production, refining, transport, and storage. The ...

jointly subsidized the Long Son petrochemical complex located in south

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

in 2014.

Cultural relations

The Thai Embassy in Doha is responsible for arranging cultural activities in Qatar. The embassy organized Thailand's Cultural Night 2015, during which traditional Thai dances and food were showcased. It also participated in the 2015 ASEAN Food Festival held in Doha. In October 2019, Thailand signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Qatar for sports cooperation and exchange. The collaboration would significantly benefit Thailand by boosting the country's sporting potential.

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

member Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul said, “Qatar is many steps ahead of us. There's a lot we can learn to raise the level of our sports.”

Foreign aid

Following heavy floods in Thailand in 2011, Qatar Charity jointly launched a project in Thailand alongside local organization Awn Al Muslim in an effort to help those affected by flooding. Qatar is a major funder of Yala Islamic University in

Pattani, Thailand Pattani is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in the far south of Thailand, near the border with Malaysia. It is the capital of Pattani Province. The city has a population of 44,353 (2018). It covers the whole ''tambon'' Sabarang, Anoru and Chabang Ti ...

. Furthermore, the government financed the construction of a $7 million hospital called Sheikh Jasim Bin Muhammad Bin Thani Hospital in Pattani.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Qatar-Thailand relations

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...