His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, who paid a visit today to the Thai government’s headquarters, held talks with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
HRH the Prime Minister held a meeting with his Thai counterpart and discussed with her bilateral relations, commending the advanced level they have reached thanks to both countries’ keen interest to bolster them in all domains.
After that, a Bahraini-Thai discussion session was held under the presidency of HRH the Premier and his Thai counterpart.
Both sides agreed to work through the Bahraini-Thai Joint Committee and the Joint Businessmen Council to activate previously-signed agreements. They also underlined the need to boost cooperation between the GCC countries and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), stressing the need for economic blocs to diversify distribution centres of their products due to economic volatility.
Both sides also spotlighted measures being taken regarding food security, livestock, and fish farming to cater to the basic nutritional needs in Bahrain, avail of Thailand’s experience in this respect and render Bahrain a distribution hub of the Thai products in the region.
Both sides also agreed to take advantage of the Bahraini financial and banking institutions, including mainly the Islamic ones, to fund Islamic sukuks and ensure Islamic financial and banking institutions are established in Thailand at competitive prices.
Discussions also focused on ways of benefiting from the Thai experience in backing small companies.
HRH the Prime Minister expressed delight at taking part in the World Economic Forum on East Asia, lauding the forum’s high level which, he said, will reflect positively on the Asian economy and push it forward towards more integration.
HRH the Premier also underlined Bahrain’s keenness to lay bridges of cooperation with the rest of the world, including mainly Thailand and ASEAN, in light of the availability of promising opportunities to achieve high rates of growth that meet the developmental orientations of both countries.
The Thai Prime Minister praised the pivotal role played by HRH Prince Khalifa to bolster the Bahraini-Thai relations, stressing her country’s keenness to further cement bilateral links and boost cooperation at all levels.
She also praised the keynote speech given by HRH the Prime Minister at the forum and the advanced visions it included concerning the need to promote cooperation between the GCC countries and ASEAN to boost the two blocs’ capability to withstand regional and international challenges.
The Thai Premier hosted a lunch banquet in honour of HRH the Prime Minister and his accompanying delegation, which was attended by ministers and senior officials.