On 30 July 2023, Ms. Warunee Pan-krajang, Chargé d’Affaires, Royal Thai Embassy in Brussels, and Mr. Pathompong Singthong, the Consular Officer of the Embassy, attended the Buddhist ceremony celebrating the Arsalaha Bucha Day and the Buddhist Lent Day at Wat Dhammaprateep, Mechelen, Belgium. The Chargé d’Affaires also led the participants in the prayers. On this occasion, the Chargé d’Affaires presented the Embassy’s donation in support of Wat Dhammaprateep’s religious and cultural activities as well as additional amount to cover the Temple’s expenses when the Embassy used the Temple’s premises and amenities to reach out to the Thai community in its organisation of the overseas voting in April 2023 in addition to its polling stations at the chanceries of the Embassy and the Honorary Consulate-General in Luxembourg. The Chargé d’Affaires and the Consular Officer also took this opportunity to see development of the Temple and have conversation with Thai people in the event.

In March 2023, the Belgian Council of Ministers approved the draft law officially recognising Buddhism as the 8^th non-denominational worldview in Belgium and the Buddhist Union of Belgium (BUB) as the main interlocutor. However, the entry into force of the draft law is pending for the Federal Parliament’s consideration. Once it is approved and becomes effective, the Buddhist community will receive both facilitation and financial support for their activities from the Belgian Government. There are currently 150,000 Buddhists in Belgium.