Thai PM Hails Recent Visits To China, Japan

BANGKOK, April 28 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has hailed her recent visits to China and Japan, from April 17-22. Describing her official trip to China from April 17-20 as successful, Yingluck said during her weekly address Saturday that her government is considering applying China’s flood and drought prevention measures for national interests. Currently, Yingluck acknowledged, 17 Thai ministries are overseeing water programmes, unlike China which has only a single command system; so, what the Thai government will do is to bring information from every system and experts from the 17 ministries to stay under one roof and link their computer systems together in order to create a solidarity, saying that China has also pledged to send experts to work with Thailand's National Water Resources and Flood Policy Committee. Regarding bilateral trade, Yingluck revealed she has proposed that an investment centre for small – and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) be set up in China, as several Thai SMEs are now established in China and Bangkok and Beijing have agreed to boost two-way trade by 20 per cent annually, investment by 15 per cent annually and tourism by 20 per cent annually over the next five years. Also, the Thai prime minister indicated, at least 14 Chinese private companies have expressed their interest in investing in Thailand's industrial sectors, and that the two countries have agreed as well to cooperate on developing high-speed train projects with a joint study set to be complete within three months. Yingluck told the public that during her visit to Japan from April 20-22 to attend a meeting between leaders of five Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) nations and Japan, she also had an opportunity to look into Japan’s bullet train system and community-based products, known as OTOP in Thailand, noting that her administration, therefore, plans to further develop Thailand's OTOP and to widen their markets both locally and internationally. (TNA)