Thailand, UK agree to raise two-way trade, investment

LONDON, November 15 (TNA) - Thailand and the United Kingdom have agreed to further increase the values of bilateral trade and investment, as well as to expand bilateral relations in various areas. The agreements were reached during a bilateral discussion between Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her UK counterpart David Cameronin London on Wednesday (UK time), as part of the Thai prime minister's official visit to the United Kingdom from November 12-15. Yingluck told TNA that the United Kingdom is also keen to invest in infrastructure and renewable energy projects in Thailand and she invited UK firms to, thus, join in the Dawei deep seaport development project Thailand is jointly implementing with Myanmar. The Thai prime minister also referred to bilateral cooperation in the education sector, covering the British Council's delivery of E-learning software for tablet computers the Thai Ministry of Education is distributing to young Thai students and native English teachers to be sent by the UK in the coming months to teach the English language to Thai teachers, as part of Thailand's preparations for the Single Community of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by 2015. Besides, the Thai prime minister promised to introduce more measures to protect and facilitate international tourists in Thailand, including those on relaxed visa and customs procedures. According to the Thai premier, she proposed convenient services for Thai and UK tourists to visit each other’s country and asked London to facilitate Thai nationals who seek jobs in the UK, including Thai chefs who are now legally required to pass language tests. The Thai prime minister acknowledged that expectations are met during her ongoing trip to the United Kingdom, expressing her confidence that bilateral relations at national and governmental levels will further grow, on top of bilateral diplomatic relations which have lasted over 400 years so far. The UK prime minister then hosted a luncheon for Premier Yingluck at his office at the No. 10 Downing Street, after the talks. (TNA)