H.E. Mr Nikorn Soemklang has served as Thailand’s Minister of Social Development and Human Security since April 2026. A member of the Pheu Thai Party, he was elected to the House of Representatives for Nakhon Ratchasima in July 2023 and is serving in the Cabinet for the first time. As Minister, he has promoted a more proactive approach to social protection, focused on expanding opportunities for children, older persons, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups. His priorities include strengthening family and community-based care, improving access to welfare and livelihoods support, and building multi-sectoral partnerships to address Thailand’s changing demographic and social-development needs.

Anna Hammargren is a Diplomat with 30 years of experience of international work, primarily with the Swedish Foreign Service, reaching from security policy, European affairs and development cooperation to economic analysis, budget-planning and strategic management. Mrs Hammargren headed the Secretariat for the Governmental Commission reviewing the Foreign Service 2009-2011. She has among senior posts recently served as Director-General for Administration and Crises Management, as Ambassador to Morocco, as Deputy Director General for International Development Co-operation and as Special Envoy for the Israeli/Palestinian Peace Process. In August 2023 Mrs Hammargren was appointed Ambassador to Thailand. The Embassy in Bangkok also covers Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

Mr Patrick is a Spanish diplomat with nearly 18 years of experience spanning political affairs, bilateral relations, diplomacy and consular services. He joined the Spanish Foreign Service in 2008 and has worked extensively across Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. His overseas assignments have included serving as Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Spain in Bangladesh and as Head of the Consular Section at the Embassy of Spain in India. He later served as Senior Political Adviser for East Asia and Acting Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. From 2021 to 2026, he was Deputy Head of Mission and Head of the Political, Press and Information Section at the European Union Delegation to Myanmar. In September 2026, he joined the European Union Delegation to Thailand as Deputy Head of Mission.

Mr Andrew Egan is Minister and Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian Embassy in Thailand. A senior official with Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, he has held leadership roles covering climate change, sustainable development, humanitarian response, governance and strategic planning. His overseas experience includes postings in Papua New Guinea and the Philippines. Before joining DFAT in 2006, he worked with Human Rights Watch. He holds degrees from Princeton University and Monash University.

Theonila Roka Matbob is an Indigenous Nasioi woman of the Basikang clan from Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, and the 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize recipient for Islands and Island Nations. Growing up near the Panguna mine, she experienced first-hand the mine’s environmental and social consequences and the conflict that followed its closure.

Ms. Matbob has worked with communities to document the continuing impacts of mine waste and advocate for accountability and remedy. Her campaign contributed to Rio Tinto’s formal acknowledgment of the environmental and social harm associated with the long-abandoned mine and to a collaborative process intended to address urgent risks and establish a long-term remedy mechanism.

Ms. Matbob’s leadership brings together Indigenous rights, environmental justice, corporate accountability and community-centered remedy—issues at the heart of the 2026 Forum’s theme, “Building Resilience, Advancing Rights.”

Grace Forrest is a human rights activist and Founding Director of Walk Free, one of the world’s leading anti-slavery organisations. Walk Free produces the Global Slavery Index, the world’s most comprehensive dataset on modern slavery, and campaigns for systemic change against this abuse of human rights.

As a modern-day abolitionist, Grace works alongside survivors and frontline organisations to amplify expert voices in the anti-slavery movement. She also works to address the world’s most complicated issues by advocating for government policies that protect human rights and drive sustainable business practices.

Masato Otaka graduated from the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Economics and joined Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1986. He has served as Secretary to the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, held various director-level positions in the Economic Affairs Bureau and regional bureaus of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and served as Minister at the Embassy of Japan in Thailand and the Embassy of Japan in the United States. He subsequently served as Press Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador of Japan to Hungary. He became Ambassador of Japan to Thailand in January 2024 and currently serves in this position.