Thai PM arrives in New York to attend 67th UNGA

NEW YORK, September 24 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her entourage have arrived in New York to attend the 67th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters, scheduled for September 24-29 local time, during which she will also promote Thai food and present her administration's policy on Thai Kitchen to the World. Accompanied by Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittirat Na-Ranong, Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul, Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom, Public Health Minister Wittaya Buranasiri and Secretary-General to the Prime Minister Suranant Vejjajiva, Yingluck arrived at the John F Kennedy Airport in New York at 10pm local time on Sunday or 9am Monday morning Thailand's time. Upon her arrival at the Plaza Athenee Hotel in New York, where she stays during her visit with tightened security measures, the Pheu Thai premier and her entourage received a warm welcome from their red-shirt supporters. the Thai prime minister was scheduled to visit Harlem neighborhood in New York from 9am-11am Monday local time, before meeting Thai commerce authorities to brief her government's policies on promoting Thai food overseas and heading to the UN headquarters to receive Her Royal Highness Princess Bajarakitiyabha, who is scheduled to attend the UN High-Level Meeting on the Rule of laws, the national and international levels. In the evening, the Thai premier is scheduled to attend a dinner reception hosted by US President Barack Obama for participants in the 2012 UN general assembly, as well as a dinner reception hosted by Thailand's permanent mission to the United Nations. Earlier, Premier Yingluck stopped over in Brunei to attend the wedding ceremony of Princess Hafizah Sururul Bolkiah, the daughter of Brunei's Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, at which she also met her Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen and a Saudi Prince. Later, her plane was refueled at Japan's Narita Airport before heading to New York. (TNA)