Thailand highlighted its endorsement of Myanmar President Thein Sein's
reform platform during his three-day official visit starting yesterday,
particularly regarding the opening up of the economy, as Bangkok is keen on
developing the Dawei port project to link up logistics in the region.
Shortly after his arrival, Thein
Sein was shown the Laem Chabang Port and Laem Chabang Industrial Estate in
eastern Chon Buri by Thai authorities hoping to inspire him into extending full
political support to the Thai-invested Dawei project in Myanmar's southern town
of Dawei.
Thein Sein will meet with Prime
Minister Yingluck Shinawatra today to exchange views on ways to enhance mutual
relations and development cooperation.
Yingluck said she would discuss
with her counterpart many issues of interest, including the development of the
deep-sea port and industrial estate in Dawei and the planned trans-border
corridor to Thailand.
Italian-Thai Development Plc is
committed to investing at least 300 billion baht (US$9.4 billion) for the first
phase of the project, which would act as a shortcut for Thailand to the Indian
Ocean and a gateway for Myanmar to mainland Southeast Asia including Laos,
Cambodia and Vietnam.
Thailand intends to stress
economic cooperation with Myanmar as a new prospect for their relations
although the two countries also have many other unsolved issues such as
Myanmar's detention of 92 Thais.
Yingluck said her government has
already urged the Myanmar president to consider this case before his visit and
hopes that Myanmar authorities would help secure the release of the Thai
citizens who were being held in custody on many charges including illegal entry
and encroachment. They were arrested on July 4 for farming on forestland
opposite Ranong's Kraburi district.
Thein Sein postponed his planned
official visit to Thailand in May when opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was
also invited to attend the World Economic Forum in Bangkok.
Thein Sein paid an official visit
to Thailand from April 29-May 1 in 2008 as prime minister of the previous
regime. He took the position of president of the new regime in March last year
and has dedicated himself to reform and reconciliation since then.
A Thai official said Thein Sein
made the right decision to postpone his visit as his presence in Thailand might
have been overshadowed by the charismatic Suu Kyi, who grabbed the media
spotlight all during her visit.
Nay Pyi Taw said the deferral of
his visit was caused by domestic affairs since the president was busy with
power shortage protests in Yangon and Mandalay as well as riots in the western
state of Rakhine.
The timing now was such that the
Thai government could give its complete attention to his visit and have more
time to discuss with him on various significant issues, the official said on condition
of anonymity.
"President Thein Sein is the
key person whom the international community should support to move reform and
national reconciliation n Myanmar ahead," the official said.
"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is
important, of course, as the symbol of democracy in the country, but President
Thein Sein is the person responsible for reform," he said.
The official visit to Thailand
will be his first since his assumption of office on Mar. 30, 2011.
"It will therefore afford a
good opportunity for both countries to further strengthen the ties of
friendship and further enhance cooperation in various areas, particularly those
in support of Myanmar's ongoing economic reform and development efforts for the
benefit of both countries and the region as a whole," the Thai Foreign
Ministry said in a statement.
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