Thailand is gearing up to host the second summit of Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), a pan-Asian regional grouping initiated by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2002, this weekend.
One Asia, Diverse Strengths is the theme of this year's three-day forum, which will attract less than one third of heads of state and heads of government from the 34-member Asian-only bloc, senior Thai diplomats said yesterday.
Regional powers, namely China, Japan, India and South Korea, have opted to send a vice-president, a vice-minister, a minister of state and prime minister, respectively.
Apart from host Thailand, the only countries in Southeast Asia whose heads of state or heads of government will attend are Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia, according to organising Foreign Ministry officials.
"We want the map of Thailand to keep blinking on the international radar screen," deputy permanent secretary Vitavas Srivihok said, explaining why Thailand chose to host the second summit after Kuwait, which hosted the first one in October 2012.
But Thammasat University adjunct professor Somjai Phagaphasvivat said hosting a summit of another "talk shop" like the ACD amid dozens of regional groupings in Asia would not put Thailand on the radar screen.
"I don't expect ACD to produce any tangible results," Mr Somjai said.
"It won't make itself into a bargaining chip if it doesn't have a strategic direction."
Mr Vitavas disagreed.
"Critics have belittled the ACD as another talk shop, but in my view we can't just sit and watch what is going on around us globally, but we have to set up a stage to take part in it," he said.
Inaugurated in June 2002 in Cha-am district, Phetchaburi province, ACD started with 18 Asian countries aiming to build the "missing link" in Asia by incorporating every Asian country and building an "Asian Community without duplicating other organisations or creating a bloc against others", its website says.
Prior to the 2016 summit, Thailand hosted three ministerial meetings in 2002, 2003 and March 2016.
Among the 34 members are all 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.
The three-day event will start tomorrow with an informal working dinner of ACD foreign ministers, followed by a whole-day ACD Connect Business Forum on Sunday and a dinner hosted for ACD leaders by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and the whole day summit on Monday.
The summit is expected to endorse three documents -- ACD Vision for Asia Cooperation 2030, Bangkok Declaration and ACD Statement on Reigniting Growth Through Partnership for Connectivity.
Diplomatic analysts say the Bangkok summit has failed to attract international heavyweights because its past meetings have failed to produce concrete and tangible results.
"It is difficult to get all heads of governments or heads of states to have a common available slot if they don't have a common interest in the meeting agenda," said Chaiwat Khamchoo, professor of international affairs at Chulalongkorn University.
"So they have chosen to send their deputies to attend these summits.''
Chutintorn Gongsakdi, director-general of the ministry's Department of International Economic Affairs, said cultural differences and the lack of trust between member countries are major challenges since many of these countries have bad relationships, such as Iran and Kuwait.
But the Bangkok summit is the first time the business sector will be included as part of the "ACD Connect Business Forum 2016". There will be celebrities from the business community such as Alibaba head Jack Ma who will be discussing collaborating on projects with ICT-related government agencies, he said.
Country members have chosen to strengthen cooperation in the six most important areas from a previous selection of 20, Mr Chutintorn said.
The six areas are: connectivity; interrelation of food, energy and water security; science, technology and innovation; education and human resources development; culture and tourism; and promoting approaches to inclusive and sustainable development, which will be headed by Thailand to promote the King's ideology of "sufficiency economy".