Thailand, Russia to expand bilateral relations

VLADIVOSTOK, September 8 (TNA) - Thailand and Russia have hailed the 115th anniversary of their establishment of diplomatic relations and agreed on using the auspicious occasion to further expand and strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation. The agreement was reached during bilateral talks between Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia's far eastern Vladivostok City Saturday afternoon local time on the sidelines of the 2012 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit. During the talks, the Thai and Russian leaders also invited each other to pay a visit to the other country at any appropriate time, proposing that Thai and Russian ministers concerned first exchange their visits to pave the way for the planned exchange visit of their leaders. Putin also invited Thai delegates to attend the next meeting of the Joint Thai-Russian Commission to be hosted by Russia. The Thai and Russian leaders also hailed growing two-way trade, reaching 5.6 billion US dollars so far this year and exceeding their earlier targets, and agreed on further boosting bilateral trade, particularly in the energy and telecommunication sectors, taking balanced trade into consideration. (TNA)