Thai PM to visit SKorea

BANGKOK, March 23 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is scheduled to pay an official visit to South Korea from March 24-27, during which she will also attend a nuclear security summit in Seoul from March 26-27. Yingluck told journalists on Friday that Thailand and South Korea have had a low level of bilateral trade and investment; so she will bring Thai business operators to meet their South Korean counterparts to further boost trade and investment between both countries. Yingluck said that she plans to increase the value of bilateral trade and investment between Thailand and South Korea to about 30 billion US dollars by 2015 and to raise the number of South Korean visitors to Thailand to one million annually in the near future, from about 900,000 currently. Yingluck acknowledged that her Thai business delegates will have bilateral talks with their South Korean counterparts on cooperation in trade, investment, tourism, entertainment and health businesses and will also invite the South Korean business operators to do businesses in Thailand, and that the bilateral talks are also aimed at relieving Seoul's restriction on Thai products, including fresh chicken which has been banned for several years, since the emergence of the avian influenza. According to the Thai premier, the number of South Korean visitors is now the third biggest among foreign tourist arrivals in Thailand and promotional campaigns will be launched to boost domestic tourism, together with cultural exchanges between Bangkok and Seoul. Premier Yingluck revealed that she will also study effective water management in South Korea, meet South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, inspect four river rehabilitation projects initiated by the South Korean President, deliver a speech to restore South Korean investors’ confidence in the Thai economy, after a massive flooding in Thailand late last year, and meet South Korean business operators who plan to invest in Thailand. (TNA)