Today, hundreds of millions of Americans around the world are celebrating the 246th anniversary of the independence of the United States of America. We at the American Embassy in Bangkok will join that celebration, but we will also mark over 200 years of friendship between the US and Thailand.
In 1818, an American sea captain entered the port of Bangkok for the first time. Fifteen years later, the US and the Kingdom of Siam signed the first treaty between the young United States and an Asian nation. That treaty establishing our bilateral relationship promised "constant peace and perpetual friendship" between our two nations, a friendship that has benefitted both our nations over the past two centuries and that continues to this day.
Most recently, our friendship has been instrumental in combating the Covid-19 pandemic. The United States and Thailand have worked together for the past 60 years to address critical issues affecting public health in a partnership that has saved countless lives through research, development, and treatment breakthroughs. And never has that cooperation been more important than during the last two years, as we responded together to the Covid-19 pandemic. With our partners at the Ministry of Public Health and other Thai ministries, we were able to distribute at no cost 2.5 million doses of lifesaving American mRNA Covid-19 vaccines to residents of Thailand.
