Timor-Leste FM ends visit to Thailand

BAGNKOK, February 8 (TNA) - Timor-Leste Foreign Minister Zacarius Albano da Costa ended his two-day official visit to Thailand as the guest of the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, during which he asked for Bangkok's support for Timor-Leste’s accession to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the near future. During his February 6-7 trip to Bangkok, the Timor-Leste Foreign Minister met his Thai counterpart Surapong Tovichakchaikul to discuss issues on bilateral cooperation between the two neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia, particularly in technical and human resource development. Surapong proposed that Thailand and Timor-Leste hold their 1st Annual Consultation Meeting on Technical Cooperation later this year to review and follow up their planned cooperation in the fields of agriculture, fisheries and public health and invited Timor-Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão to attend the 2nd Asia-Pacific Water Summit to be hosted by Thailand in May 2012. The Timor-Leste Foreign Minister also paid a courtesy call on Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra at the Government House to discuss and strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation between the two countries, during which he thanked Thailand for continual support since Timor-Leste's independence in 2002 and invited a Thai delegation to attend the Timor-Leste independence celebration on May 20, insisting that Timor-Leste intends to foster bilateral relations with Thailand. The Thai premier, in turn, invited Timor-Leste to send delegates to attend the forthcoming World Economic Forum on East Asia in Bangkok from May 31-June 1, 2012 and thanked Timor-Leste's support during Thailand’s flooding crisis late last year. (TNA)