On 24 July 2023, Mrs. Kanchana Patarachoke, Director-General of the Department of Information and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, participated in a seminar on public sector communication strategy in the digital era (in Thai: “สื่อสารงานรัฐ ชี้ชัดมาตรฐานสื่อออนไลน์”) at Swissôtel Bangkok. The seminar was hosted by the Public Relations Department (PRD) and attended by over 600 participants including Mr. Anucha Nakasai, Minister Attached to the Prime Minister's Office as Chairman of the National Committee on Public Relations; Lt. Gen. Sansern Keawkamnerd, Director-General of the PRD; along with Permanent Secretaries, Spokespersons, chiefs of government agencies, as well as public relations officers from different ministries.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Anucha Nakasai stated that new-age media situation and users’ behaviour have caused public sector communications to be crafted in a more "simplified" and "interesting" format in order to increase accessibility and maximize benefits from government policies. He gave an example of the grassroots economic empowerment policy (in Thai: “การเสริมสร้างเศรษฐกิจฐานราก”) aimed to help people manage land and water resources in the most efficient way through support from the Office of the National Village and Urban Community Fund where families would be provided with their own cattle to earn up to THB 7,200,000 per family during the 10-year period. This livestock project is planned to help 100,000 target families with expected THB 720 billion to be circulating in the grassroots economy.

Such example reflects a communication strategy that incorporated various economic schemes of several government agencies and communicated to the public in a simplified manner, thereby raising people’s awareness of the benefits that they would gain to enhance their living standards for real.

In addition, Lt. Gen. Sansern Keawkamnerd also gave remarks on how media coverage nowadays is no longer exclusive to the media alone. With social media channels, the general public could also pass on information, which could lead to miscommunication and incomplete information. In this regard, a timely official response to any issue of public interest would be the important mechanism to correct and communicate better understanding between the government and the public. This, too, would improve efficiency and standards of public sector communication to have a systemic ‘proactive’ and ‘reactive’ communication strategy, reduce any confusion that could occur in the society, as well as generate trust and cooperation from the people.

Organized by the PRD, this public sector communication seminar provided a basic understanding of the synergistic mechanism between various government agencies in the public outreach sphere, especially through the use of “ID IA IR Chat” along with the “PR Change Agent Project” training program to enhance the public sector’s online communication strategies.