Thai PM hopes for Japan's partnership with GMS

BANGKOK, April 20 (TNA) - Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has expressed her hope that Japan will be participating in creating an action plan for partnership with member countries of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), including Thailand, over the next three years. Yingluck, who is attending the 4th Mekong-Japan Summit in Tokyo from April 20-22, echoed the hope when she delivered a three-minute-long speech at a luncheon hosted by the Japan Business Federation and the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the Imperial Hotel in the Japanese capital on Friday, during which she also extended her gratitude toward the Japanese private operators for maintaining their confidence in Thailand and their active support for rehabilitation plans which have benefited the rebounding Thai economy, in the wake of a flooding crisis in the country late last year. Yingluck encouraged the Japanese business operators as well to invest in infrastructure development projects in the GMS, as a single community of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN, part of its members are also the GMS's member countries, is scheduled to be formed by 2015. The Thai premier also praised the Japanese government for supporting Japanese business persons in taking part in Japan’s cooperation with the GMS member countries, acknowledging that the Japanese business operators have played important roles in promoting relations between Japan and the GMS countries. (TNA)