Japanese Emperor's birthday celebrated in Thailand

BANGKOK, December 14 (TNA) - The Japanese Ambassador to Thailand, Shigekazu Sato, hosted a reception in Bangkok Thursday night to celebrate the 79th birthday anniversary of His Majesty Emperor Akihito, during which he vowed to advance bilateral ties and cooperation between Tokyo and Bangkok. When addressing the event, attended by over 1,000 invited guests namely Thai privy counsellors, government officials, foreign diplomats and journalists, Sato expressed his appreciation to the existing close ties between Thailand and Japan in the areas of trade, culture and people-to-people exchanges. Sato noted that Thailand’s cordial and generous support in the aftermath of a devastating twin quake and tsunami disaster in Japan's Northeast on March 11, 2011 emphasizes Japan’s cordial coherence with Thailand, covering expanding investment, despite a flooding crisis in the Kingdom in late 2011. Japan has become Thailand’s largest trading partner and donor and has also provided assistance to the Thai Kingdom, including as much as 2,500,000 yen in financial support. Next year marks the 126th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations between Thailand and Japan and also the 40th anniversary of relations, with vital roles, between Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), in which Thailand is a member country. (TNA)