Thai PM promises to support comprehensive Asian-African cooperation

JAKARTA, April 22 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha has pledged that Thailand will continue supporting comprehensive trade and investment cooperation between the Asian and African continents. The Thai leader made the promise in Jakarta on Wednesday while delivering a speech at the Asian-African Summit, organized from April 22-23 as part of the Asian African Conference 2015 (AAC), hosted by Indonesia from April 19-24. Prime Minister General Prayut stressed that, as a founding member of AAC, Thailand will maintain the stance to further enchance the long-standing intercontinental ties and cooperation. Prime Minister General Prayut said that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), in which Thailand is a member country, will take the lead in further promoting the Asian-African cooperation to its highest level. The Thai leader noted that the ASEAN Community (AC), set to be formed by the end of this year, could become a new pillar in which Asian and African people would create their networks and play their key roles to further promote intercontinental goodwill and sound understanding. The Thai prime minister pointed out that Africa is now a continent showing off the fastest economic growth, as it is attracting considerable international investment, while Thailand is ready to be a key partner for the success of Africa through the Thai-African initiative policy, under which bilateral relations would be boosted in all dimensions. The prime minister acknowledged that many international challenges faced by Asia and Africa currently, including poverty, conflicts, terrorism, epidemics and environmental problems, emphasize the importance of their intercontinental strategic partnership. The Thai prime minister also met his Palestinian Authority counterpart Rami Hamdallah on the sidelines of the Asian African Summit to discuss both sides' cooperation on agriculture, transport, labour and tourism. (TNA)