Thailand, China To Raise Trade and Investment Values

CHINA, April 18 (TNA), Thailand and China have agreed to increase their mutual trade and investment values over the next five years. The agreement was announced Wednesday when Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was on her second-day official visit to China, scheduled for April 17-19, and when the Thai premier went to a Chinese communist school where she delivered a speech on the Thai-Sino strategic partnership. During the speech, Yingluck noted that Thailand has been developing political and economic stability and boosting international relations and her elected- government with a determination on promoting national reconciliation is believed to have helped restore confidence in the Kingdom among Thais and foreigners. Yingluck also praised China's outstanding economic growth and expressed her hope that Thailand would function as a gateway between China and other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from July 2012 when Bangkok becomes a coordinator between the two sides, acknowledging that the Thai and Chinese governments have now agreed to promote their comprehensive strategic partnership covering, among others, high-speed train, renewable energy and water management projects during her ongoing trip to China this week. In her response to a subsequent question on Thailand’s stance over unsettled issues in the South China Sea between China and some Southeast Asian nations, Yingluck said that Thailand will promote marine safety and ASEAN has also agreed to promote peace in the region to facilitate water transportation, insisting that Thailand is ready to cooperate with China to solve the problems. Then the Thai prime minister went to the China World Summit Wing Hotel to meet Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Wang Qishan and attend a business luncheon, during which she told over 700 Thai and Chinese business persons that both Thailand and China have planned to raise the value of bilateral trade to 120 billion US dollars and the value of their mutual investment by 65 billion baht, or by 15 per cent, over the next five years. China is the second largest investing country in Thailand after Japan. Chinese tourists also form the lion’s share of visitors to Thailand, as about 1.5 million Chinese people visited Thailand last year, when about 500,000 Thai people also toured China, and the exchanged visits have been increasing. The Thai prime minister insisted that Thailand is promoting investment with infrastructural development, including a high-speed railway from Bangkok to Chiang Mai Province in the Thai North and new flood prevention systems worth some 120 billion US dollars. (TNA)