Thai PM occupied with overseas trips in Nov

BANGKOK, November 1 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will be occupied with overseas trips almost this month, when many world leaders are also scheduled to visit Thailand, showing the confidence of the international community in the Kingdom. Newly-appointed Thai Deputy Prime Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul, who is also Foreign Minister concurrently, told journalists Thursday that Premier Yingluck will first attend the 9th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Vientiane, Laos' capital, from November 5-6, during which she will also have bilateral talks with the leaders of Norway, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Japan, Mongolia, Italy and Laos. Surapong said that Yingluck will when participate in the Bali Democracy Forum (BDF) in Indonesia on November 8 when she will also meet the leaders of Mongolia, the Maldives, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Qatar and Turkey. From November 12-14, Surapong revealed, the prime minister will officially visit the United Kingdom, after which she will attend this year's leadership summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and related forums in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital, from November 15-20, during which she will also hold talks with Myanmar President Thein Sein, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Indian President Pratibha Patil. According to the deputy prime minister, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso will, meanwhile, visit Thailand from November 4-5, South Korean President Lee Myang-Bak from November 9-10, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni from November 15-17, Grand Imam of Egypt Ahmed al-Tayeb from November 16-18 and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao from November 20-21. The newly-appointed deputy premier acknowledged that the upcoming visits to Thailand by many world leaders and the Thai prime minister's overseas trips to over 20 countries so far with warm welcome show that the international community has confidence in Thailand in political, social and economic aspects, in the wake of the country's flooding crisis late last year, and that Thailand’s leading roles in ASEAN, in the lead-up to the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015, appear to be an achievement of the incumbent Pheu Thai Party-led government. The deputy prime minister, however, did not confirm whether incumbent US President Barack Obama will visit Thailand later this month, as it depends on results of the new US presidential election later this month. (TNA)