A delegation from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) met in consultation with AIT on 10 May 2007 and expressed great satisfaction with AIT’s program activities towards securing the goals of sustainable environment, human rights and gender, and poverty alleviation. A number of presentations on the activities at AIT supported by the Norwegian MFA were made.
The Norwegian delegation included Mr. Lasse Nymoen, Counselor of Development Cooperation and Mr. Chatri Moonstan, Senior Program Officer, Royal Norwegian Embassy in Bangkok. In attendance from AIT were the Vice Presidents for External Relations and Research, and faculty members Professor Chongrak Polprasert, Professor Jayant K. Routray, Dr. Nguyen Kim Oanh, Dr. Bernadette P. Resurreccion, Dr. Mithulananthan Nadarajah, Dr. Pritam Shrestha, Head, External Relations and Communications Office (ERCO), Mr. Benjamin Gargabite, Coordinator of admissions and scholarships, and Ms. Monowara Hussain, Program Coordinator, also from ERCO.
The purpose of the annual consultations was to review the activities of the Norwegian-AIT
Cooperation for 2006 as well as to receive an update on the strategic development plan of
the Institute. During the meeting, AIT administration briefed the delegation on the ongoing academic, administrative and financial situation including the proposed AIT charter for developing a new governance and ownership. The delegation appreciated the hard work and measures of AIT to alleviate the recent financial crisis.
The delegation also appreciated the steps adopted by AIT and its programs to establish
academic networking with Norwegian and regional universities and institutions in the fields of environment, natural resources management and clean energy. The delegation expressed satisfaction at the implementation of the cooperation program during 2006 and offered new ideas to make the ongoing cooperation more effective and fruitful.
The delegation also kindly contributed US $6,000 to the AIT Community School for
students' textbooks.