The Thai Red Cross District Branch of Mae Sot in Tak Province has handed over humanitarian assistance for the people of Myanmar to the Myanmar Red Cross Society, as part of the effort to scale up assistance for the affected population along the Thai-Myanmar border.

The handover ceremony took place on 25 March 2024 on the Thai side of the second Thailand-Myanmar Friendship Bridge in Mae Sot District, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It was witnessed by Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Sihasak Phuangketkeow, the Executive Director of the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Center), and representatives from local authorities and local communities of Tak Province and the Kayin State of Myanmar.

The assistance consisted of 4,000 relief bags, carrying rice, dried food, and other essentials for about 20,000 people. Following the handover ceremony, the convoy carrying the relief bags travelled across the second Thailand-Myanmar Friendship Bridge to the three pilot locations in the Kayin State for distribution. The AHA Center will provide technical support for monitoring of the distribution at the pilot destinations, in partnership with local partners, to ensure that the distribution is effective, credible, and transparent.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the handover of humanitarian assistance was a bilateral initiative between Thailand and Myanmar to meet the need of the displaced people in Myanmar. As a close neighbor of Myanmar, Thailand is strongly committed to doing everything that is possible to help the people affected by the conflict in Myanmar without discrimination.

This pilot project symbolizes the goodwill from the Thai people to the Myanmar people. Its success was a result of close cooperation between the Thai and Myanmar Red Cross Societies, with the full support of relevant Thai and Myanmar agencies and local communities in Tak Province and the Kayin State, including ethnic groups in the area.

The project is also part of ASEAN’s collective effort in advancing the ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus, which received full support from all ASEAN member states at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Retreat in Luang Prabang, Lao PDR, on 29 January 2024.

Building on this pilot phase, Thailand would consult closely with relevant partners on ways to further increase humanitarian assistance to support the affected population in Myanmar, especially those living near the Thai-Myanmar border.