On 11 February 2022, Mr. Thomas Lamiroy, Federal Magistrate and Mr. Kris Van Opdenbosch of Federal Service Justice, EJN Contact Points for Belgium, held a meeting with Mr. Jumpon Phansumrit, Director General of the International Affairs Department of the Office of the Attorney General of Thailand, EJN Contact Point for Thailand, and his Thai staff. To launch the discussions, the meeting started with the introduction of the participants belonging to the Central Authorities on MLA of Belgium and Thailand. In addition, the two parties discussed to speed up execution of pending requests between two countries. The effective cooperation on MLA and extradition were also discussed and shared during the meeting.
Thailand has joined the EJN as non-EU member since October 2021. Mr. Phansumrit is the new designated Contact Point for Thailand in the EJN. He represented Thailand to co-found the South East Asia Justice Network (SEAJust) in 2020 and is currently Thailand Contact Point in the SEAJust. Mr. Lamiroy is the EJN National Correspondent for Belgium and the longest serving Contact Point of the EJN. Mr. Van Opdenbosch represents the Belgian Ministry of Justice in the EJN. The meeting between the Belgian and Thai Contact Points was introduced and arranged by Ms. Ianina Lipara, Coordinator of the EJN Secretariat.
The addition of Thailand to the EJN has rapidly commenced to strengthen the inter-regional cooperation between the EJN and SEAJust, which benefits the fight against transnational crimes in Europe and Southeast Asia.