Thailand attaches great importance to Lavrov’s upcoming visit to Bangkok - ministry

BANGKOK, July 28. /TASS/. Thailand expects an efficient cooperation with Russia and attaches great importance to the upcoming visit of the country’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov to Bangkok, Spokeswoman for the Thai Foreign Ministry Busadee Santipitaks told TASS on Friday. "Bilateral cooperation and a wide range of issues will be discussed," she said, adding that Bangkok attaches "great importance to cooperation with Russia and the upcoming visit of minister (of foreign affairs Sergey - TASS) Lavrov, particularly due to this year’s celebrating of the 120th anniversary of diplomatic relations" between the two countries. Lavrov will pay a working visit to Bangkok on August 9-10. The plan is to hold talks with Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai. The key issues of bilateral cooperation in political, economic and humanitarian areas are expected to be discussed in detail during the talks, with the focus on fulfilling the agreements reached over the past two years at the highest level and also cooperation in international and regional issues. Thailand’s Foreign Minister said earlier in an interview with TASS that he would like to discuss with his Russian counterpart the issues related to certain agreements made by heads of the countries’ governments last May, and particularly the target of a five-fold increase in bilateral trade turnover within a five-year period. The trade turnover between Thailand and Russia surged 79.5% in January-May 2017 year-on-year to $1.15 bln, according to the data provided by Thailand’s customs service. Thai exports increased 48.8% in the reporting period to $323.4 mln, while Russian exports to the kingdom went up 95.3% in five months to $823.8 mln. Read more