VIENTIANE, 14 March 2013 Thailand has pledged to push for closer cooperation and regional development within its neighbors ahead of the emergence of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, on Wednesday, attended the 5th Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) meeting, held in Vientiane, Laos PDR.
Ms. Yingluck joined leaders from other ACMECS countries to discuss various issues related to joint collaboration and ACMECS 2013-2015 action plan.
At the end of the meeting, the PM was invited to deliver a closing speech, in which stated that ACMECS nations are now enjoying attention from the international community due to the economic potential this sub-region has to offer.
The Premier also reiterated Thailand’s 15-billion-baht financial support to promote trade, investment and tourism within the region.
In addition, she informed the gathering of the Thai government’s announcement of a 2-trillion-baht infrastructure investment plan, which is intended to improve land and water transportation routes as well as border trade through such projects as the connection of Thailand’s Laem Chabang Port with Myanmar’s Dawei deep-sea port and industrial estate.
Before the 5th ACMECS meeting came to an end, the Thai Premier has spent the past few days holding bilateral talks with leaders from all member countries, including the Vietnamese Prime Minister, with whom she discussed the progress on the Thailand-Vietnam Joint Cabinet Retreat and their move to elevate relations to the level of strategic partnership.
With the Lao leader, Ms. Yingluck restated strong bilateral relations while witnessing the signing of an MOU on agricultural development between Thailand and Laos.
The Thai Prime Minister raised the issues of border trade development and the progress in the Dawei deep-sea port project with the Myanmar vice president during their meeting and talked about trade and investment promotion with Cambodia.
With representatives from the business sector of all member countries, PM Yingluck joined talks on cooperative moves in trade, investment, agriculture, transport, industry and human resource development.
