Thai PM holds talks with Vietnamese, Indian, Malaysian, UK authorities

BANGKOK, October 18 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha has held talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung and Indian Minister of State for External Affairs General Vijay Kumar Singh on the sidelines of the 10th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), held in Milan, Italy, earlier this week. After attending the closing ceremony of the 10th ASEM on Friday (local time), General Prayut first met his Vietnamese counterpart to discuss bilateral cooperation and both Vietnamese and Thai leaders agreed to boost combined bilateral trade value between the two neighbouring countries to 15 billion US dollars by 2020. Stressing on being strategic partner of the two neighbouring countries, the Thai and Vietnamese leaders also pledged that Hanoi and Bangkok will continue to cooperate on labour, science and technology. The Thai premier also promised to his Vietnamese counterpart that his government will provide sufficient facility to Vietnamese migrant workers in Thailand. The Thai prime minister later conferred with the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs, during which he appreciated India’s plan to organise an exhibition on His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s development philosophies to celebrate the beloved Thai King’s birthday on December 5 and in an attempt to strengthen relations between the two allied countries. The exhibition will be organised, along with exhibition on India’s founding father Mahatma Gandhi. The Thai prime minister also invited an Indian government leader to attend the Asia Cooperation Dialogue to be hosted by Thailand in 2015 and expressed his desire to see more Indian investment in Thailand, especially in food processing and information technology industries. The Thai premier said he was also pleased to learn that the construction of a road linking between India, Myanmar and Thailand should be completed within 2016 and asked India to also invest in Myanmar’s Dawei Special Economic Zone. (TNA)