Sri Lanka, Thailand agree on economic strategic partnership

COLOMBO, July 13 (TNA) - Sri Lanka and Thailand have agreed on upgrading their bilateral economic ties and cooperation to now become "economic strategic partnership" and on accelerating their negotiations on the Sri Lanka-Thailand Free Trade Area (FTA). The agreements, among others, were reached after the arrival in Colombo on Thursday by Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha and his entourage, including his spouse, Naraporn Chan-ocha, for a two-day official visit to Sri Lanka, scheduled for July 12-13, aimed to strengthen relations in various areas between Colombo and Bangkok. The Thai prime minister first held bilateral talks with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, following a warm and honorable received by the Sri Lankan president and his spouse upon his arrival in Colombo. The bilateral talks were then followed by a plenary discussion between the Sri Lankan and the Thai sides, during which the agreements were reached. The Sri Lankan and the Thai governments also agreed to boost the value of bilateral trade between the two allied nations to about 1.5 billion US dollars by 2020 and to connect Colombo with Ranong Province in the Thai South through the marine transport in order to further enhance bilateral economic cooperation. Besides, the Sri Lankan and the Thai government agreed to promote religious tourism reciprocally and the Thai side thanked Sri Lanka for giving a shoot of the sacred Bodhi tree to Thailand as a present, which will be planted at a temple in Ayutthaya Province in the Thai central region. During the plenary meeting, the Sri Lankan and the Thai leaders also witnessed the signing of four agreements between Colombo and Bangkok, including two memoranda of understanding (MOUs) on the development of economic strategic partnership between the two allied nations and on the bilateral technical cooperation on adding the value of basic goods reciprocally. The other two agreements included a legal treaty on the transfer of culprits and a cooperative pact on the enforcement of judicial verdits on criminal cases and the implementation of joint projects on the development of modeled communities on the sustainable basis in Sri Lanka through the adoption of the Sufficiency Economy Principle advised by Thailand's late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. On the occasion, the Sri Lankan president also congratulated the Thai government and people on the successful rescue mission of the 13-member young Thai soccer team who had been trapped in the deep and massively-flooded Tham Luang Cave in the compound of the Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in Chiang Rai Province in the Thai North for more than two weeks, while the Thai prime minister praised integrated attempts and hearty cooperation of international teams for the successful mission recently. (TNA)