Editorial | Dr Supachai Verapuchong : Promoting Business Success and Peace Through Buddhism

On behalf of the entire Elite+ team, I would like to express our sincere condolences to His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn and the entire Royal family on the passing of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit, The Queen Mother, as we join in mourning her loss with the entire nation.

With the Thai-Cambodian conflict continuing to simmer, we have Dr Supachai Verapuchong, a Thai entrepreneur with a number of business ventures in Cambodia, to explain how the conflict is affecting the sale of Thai products and services and how his faith in Buddhism and the Buddha’s teachings helps to navigate such challenges. We then sit down with Ambassador Mark Gooding, OBE, to discuss UK-Thailand relations as the countries celebrate 170 years of diplomatic relations. In our Lifestyle column, you have the chance to meet Madame Carine Boustany Annan, wife of HE Danny Annan, Ambassador of Denmark to Thailand and Cambodia.

This time of year it seems there are many book fairs and awards such as the Chommanard Book Prize awarded to the best novel by a female Thai writer, and we are pleased to introduce you to this year’s winner, Natcha ‘Omsin’ Leelertsakulwong. We also tell you about the Indonesia International Book Fair (IIBF) 2025 before we introduce you to the vice president for business development, Claudia Kaiser, of the world’s largest book fair, the Frankfurter Buchmesse, or Frankfurt Book Fair, who has been working to promote Asian books and writers for the past 10 years.

With COP 30 capturing the world’s attention, we share with you Southeast Asia’s largest sustainability exhibition, Sustainability Expo 2025 (SX2025) and all that it offered. In our travel column, we take you to the ancient town of Lüneburg, Germany, where you see how they have preserved and share their history, and then in Dining, we treat you to an afternoon traditional Japanese Kaiseki feast at the Michelin Plate, award winning Yamazato restaurant

Our Adventure column then takes you to one of the world’s last wildernesses, the Antarctic Peninsula, while this issue’s short story, “The Bamboo Bridge over Raging Waters” by Seksan Prasertkul and translated by Pairat Temphairojana, tells a story that takes place much closer to home in western Thailand.

To end this issue, we share with you The Dresden Renaissance as the city emerges once more after 80 years of rebuilding and restoration.

Arthorn Techatada
Executive Editor