On August 26, 2024, Mrs. Thitiporn Jirasawat, Director of Devawongse Varopakarn Institute of Foreign Affairs, presided over the opening ceremony of the 18th Advanced Oral Communication Course (AOCC) for the year 2024. The course participants included senior government officials at the specialist level or higher from eight agencies: (1) Royal Thai Police; (2) The Secretariat of the House of Representatives; (3) The Secretariat of The Prime Minister; (4) Office of the Council of State; (5) Office of The Public Sector Development Commission; (6) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs; (7) The Ministry of Energy and (8) The Tourism Authority of Thailand.

               On this occasion, Mrs. Thitiporn welcomed the course participants and briefly discussed the background of the course. The Devawongse Varopakarn Institute of Foreign Affairs has been organizing this course since 2011 in collaboration with the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. The course aims to enhance the participants' presentation skills and high-level English communication capabilities. It is designed to ensure that participants gain the maximum benefit from the training, including fostering networks among senior government executives to drive national integration. Furthermore, it is believed that the training, coupled withstudy visits in New Zealand will promote and push forward cooperation at various levels in alignment with the government's key policies in the future.

               The AOCC training is divided into two phases: (1) Classroom training at the Devawongse Varopakarn Institute of Foreign Affairs from August 26 to September 6, 2024, focusing on preparing participants with the necessary content and skills for public speaking, academic presentations, and expressing opinions in meetings; and (2) Classroom training at Victoria University of Wellington and relevant study visits in New Zealand from September 7 to 22, 2024. This phase includes learning communication techniques in more challenging simulated situations with native-speaking instructors, such as international conferences, negotiations, impromptu speaking, and practicing media interview techniques and proactive question answering in realistic simulations. Additionally, participants will learn about the way of life, history, society, and culture of New Zealand.