ID :
287536
Fri, 05/31/2013 - 10:55
Auther :

Thai PM visits Sri Lanka, Maldives May 31-June 3

BANGKOK, May 31 (TNA) - Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is paying her official visits to Sri Lanka and the Maldives from May 31-June 3 to boost relations between Thailand and South Asia and to promote Thailand's investment overseas. Yingluck told journalists on Friday morning, prior to her departure, that members of her entourage include Thai business operators in tourism, hotel and investment sectors so that they can explore investment opportunities in both Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Yingluck said that her ongoing trip to Sri Lanka should build on past cooperation, after no representative of the Thai government had visited Sri Lanka for a long time. According to the Thai prime minister, there will also be exchanges on bilateral cultures, Buddhism, tourism, pharmaceutical production and farm product processing and Thai business operators are also interested in investing in Sri Lanka's infrastructure development projects. The Thai premier revealed that she will also have a full-panel bilateral discussion with Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa and signed agreements on visa exemption for official and diplomatic passports, cooperation on tourism, sciences and technologies and the promotion of the sisters' city status of Thailand's central Ayutthaya province and Sri Lanka's Kandy city. During her trip to Sri Lanka, the Thai premier is also scheduled to visit Malwatta and Asgiriya Temples and the Temple of the Tooth and to open an exhibition on the Thai-Sri Lankan celebrations of the 260th anniversary of the establishment of the Siam sect of Buddhism in Sri Lanka by Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University. For her visit to the Maldives, Premier Yingluck acknowledged that she is the first Thai prime minister to pay an official visit to the South Asian island state in 34 years since both countries established their diplomatic relations in 1979, and that Thai hoteliers, who are accompanying her, will explore their investment opportunities and there will be exchanges on tourism, health, fishery and spa services. The Thai prime minister is also scheduled to have a bilateral discussion with Maldives President Mohammed Waheed, during which an agreement will be signed for bilateral tourism cooperation. The Thai prime minister will then inspect seawater desalination in the Maldives, before returning home next Monday's evening. (TNA)

X