At the Government House, the Right Honourable the Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Srettha Thavisin on occasion of his official visit to Thailand. Government Spokesperson Chai Wacharonke disclosed gist of the meeting as follows:
Both the Prime Minister and Lord Cameron were pleased with the elevation of bilateral relations to strategic partnership, following the signing ceremony of “Thailand-UK Strategic Partnership Roadmap” between the Foreign Ministers of the two countries at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier in the day. United Kingdom is the first European country that has forged strategic partnership with Thailand. The two parties affirmed close relations and cooperation in all dimensions, and expressed hope that the official visit of Lord Cameron would further strengthen cooperation, especially in the fields of science and technology, security, and education, among others.
On economic cooperation, the Prime Minister underscored the Thai Government’s priority on economic revitalization through expanding foreign markets, and attracting foreign investments in a bid to increase income of the Thai people. He extended an invitation for UK to take part in advancing the Thai economy. Lord Cameron was keen to reinforce economic cooperation with Thailand, and hoped for an increase of investment between the two countries.
In his visit to Thailand, Lord Cameron had a chance to meet with Thai security agency to discuss security cooperation. He also thanked Thailand for its support on UK’s participation in the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+). The Prime Minister was hoping to tighten close security cooperation both at the bilateral and multilateral levels. He also commended UK’s advancement in sciences, technology, and innovation, on which Lord Cameron expressed interest to reinforce cooperation with Thailand under the framework of UK’s International Science Partnership Fund (ISPF).
Lord Cameron marveled Thailand as world’s leading tourist destination with an increasing number of UK tourists traveling to the country each year. The Prime Minister stated that the Government strives to promote visa facilitation for Thai nationals to stimulate tourism and ease of doing business.
The two parties also had a constructive exchange of views on the current global situations, i.e., Myanmar, Russia-Ukraine, and the Middle East. According to the Prime Minister, Thailand supports the efforts to find a peaceful settlement to the situations through dialogue. (PRD)
