TOKYO, April 20 — Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Friday began her visit to Japan for the 4th Mekong-Japan Summit scheduled to begin Saturday, and will meet with Japanese business leaders.
The Mekong-Japan Summit will take place Saturday with leaders from the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) — Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand — meet with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda who will chair the gathering.
The summit will review the implementation of programmes and projects under the 63-point Action Programme, the Mekong-Japan Economic and Industrial Cooperation Initiative (MJ-CI) and the Green Mekong Initiative.
The leaders are expected to adopt the “Tokyo Strategy for Mekong-Japan Cooperation” as a foundation for Mekong-Japan cooperation for the next three years, from 2013 to 2015, focusing on promoting communications between the GMS, cooperation for mutual development and how to ensure security and protect the environment.
The summit follows the 3rd Mekong-Japan Summit in Bali, Indonesia in November last year which focused on natural disaster responses and water resources management.
Ms Yingluck said before the meeting that Thailand attended the summit as a crucial strategic partner with Japan in the sustainable co-development of the Mekong River delta.
Thailand, in the past, has played an active role in develop the GMS in varied aspects including infra-structure development, competitiveness development and human resources development, she said.
After the summit, Ms Yingluck will visit and be briefed about the operations of Japanese rail services, particularly the Shinkansen bullet train before returning to Thailand on Sunday.
