BANGKOK, May 3 (TNA) – Prime Ministers of Thailand and Japan agree to further enhance cooperation in all dimensions.
Prime Minister and Defense Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha on Monday welcomed Kishida Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan at Government House on occasion of the Japanese Prime Minister’s official visit to Thailand.
According to Government Spokesperson Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana, the Prime Minister proposed that relations of the two countries be elevated to “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership”.
The Prime Minister of Japan also agreed with the Thai counterpart on the elevation of relations to comprehensive strategic partnership, and proposed that the two countries consider increasing close cooperation on important issues toward tangible results, especially on the response to COVID-19 pandemic, security and judicial cooperation, and economic cooperation for the future.
The Thai and Japanese Prime Ministers also discussed other important issues of cooperation.
On economic cooperation, the two Prime Ministers agreed on expediting the drafting of the 5-Year Joint Strategic Plan on Thailand-Japan Strategic Economic Partnership, which would serve as a roadmap to steer forward Thailand – Japan relations in potential areas of interest.
Thailand also endorsed Japan’s new initiative of “Asia-Japan Investing for the Future (AJIF)”, under which Japanese investors may use Thailand, especially the country’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), as regional investment base in targeted industries, e.g., electric vehicles or EVs.
The Japanese Prime Minister acknowledged Thailand’s potential as Japan’s most important investment base in the Southeast Asian region, and affirmed the country’s continued manufacturing of vehicles and EVs in Thailand. Both parties also expressed readiness to promote human resource development cooperation through the establishment of more KOSEN Institutes in Thailand, and energy cooperation to achieve the target of Carbon Neutrality.
The Prime Minister thanked the Japanese Government for providing assistance and supports to Thailand in the latter’s effort to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 situation, which include donation of vaccines, oxygen concentrators, and vaccine storage equipment, and the provision of soft loan.
He was of the view that the two countries enhance cooperation in healthcare to address the COVID-19 and other possible emerging diseases in the future, and extended his invitation to Japanese people to resume traveling to Thailand following the country’s ease of travel restriction from May 1 onward.
Regarding APEC, the Japanese Prime Minister expressed support of Thailand’s hosting of APEC 2022 under the theme “Open. Connect. Balance”, and the country’s BCG economic model.
The Thai Prime Minister also affirmed his readiness to welcome Prime Minister Kishida on another visit to Thailand to attend the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting on November 18-19 this year. The two leaders also constructively exchanged views on important regional and international issues, including the situation in Ukraine and Myanmar. (TNA)
