Bahrain Prince visit to Thailand 'outstanding success'

His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman's recent visit to Thailand has been successful and yielded positive results in all fields, especially the political and economic ones, enhanced bilateral cooperation and created new areas of trade and investment exchange, which will benefit national economy. The visit, during which HRH Premier held meetings with senior Thai officials and took part in the 21st World Economic Forum on East Asia as a high-level guest of honour, reflected the prestigious position and respect enjoyed by the kingdom regionally and globally and was in line with HRH Premier's vision of enhancing Bahrain's relations with other countries through exploring new areas of bilateral cooperation and taking advantage of the available opportunities in order to attract foreign investments, as the best way to spur the local economy. The visit also provided an opportunity to discuss the status of the Bahraini-Thai cooperation and broaden it through creating new areas, including boosting trade and encouraging the private sector in both countries to launch joint investment and tourist projects. HRH Premier's meetings with Thai senior officials, particularly Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, and those held by members of his accompanying delegation with their Thai counterparts on the sidelines of the visit, have boosted Bahraini-Thai relations through the signing of a number of memoranda of cooperation. During those meetings, the two sides agreed to follow up on the implementation of bilateral agreements through the Joint Bahraini-Thai Committee and the Businessmen Council, enhance cooperation between GCC and Asean countries and ensure the kingdom's food security through taking advantage of Thailand's expertise in this regard. They also discussed making Bahrain as a centre for the distribution of Thai products in the region, taking advantage of Bahrain's financing and banking experience and ways of activating the memoranda of understanding signed between them. They also agreed that the Joint Bahraini-Thai Committee would convene next October in order to assess the progress of the implementation of the bilateral agreements. HRH Premier's visit to Thailand has boosted bilateral relations and opened up new areas of cooperation, in line with the two friendly countries' leaderships' keen interest to constantly bolster those ties in order to meet the expectations of their peoples.