Bangkok, Tokyo ink deals on rail-track development in Thailand

TOKYO, February 10 (TNA) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Thai counterpart General Prayut Chan-ocha have witnessed the signing of bilateral agreements on the development of new rail-track systems in Thailand and on mutual business promotion. The memorandum of intent (MOI) on the rail-track development and the memorandum of cooperation (MOC) on mutual business promotion were signed in Tokyo on Monday evening (local time), when the Japanese and visiting Thai leaders held bilateral talks on sustaining Japanese-Thai relations and cooperation. On the occasion, the Japanese prime minister lauded sound bilateral cooperation between Japan and Thailand and praised his visiting Thai counterpart for his all-out efforts to introduce true democracy in Thailand, expressing his hope that the Thai Kingdom will soon realize reconciliation among people and become a center of the ASEAN Community (AC), after it is formed by the end of this year. The Thai prime minister, in turn, said his ongoing trip to Japan is aimed to stress on the strategic partnership between Tokyo and Bangkok, expressing his hope that the partnership will play important roles in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). The Thai prime minister confirmed that Thailand and Japan will cooperate on the development of three new urgent rail-tracks in Thailand, which will become east-west and north-south economic corridors, and on the development of the Dawei special economic zone in Myanmar, which is the biggest economic development project in Southeast Asia and will also connect with GMS and South Asia. On Tuesday morning, the Thai prime minister visited the Tokyo train station, where he was briefed on Japan's development of rail-tracks by parties concerned and boarded a high-speed train to Osaka for a luncheon with representatives of Kansai's five economic organizations. The Thai prime minister is scheduled to return home on Tuesday evening, ending his official visit to Japan from February 8-10. (TNA)