Statement by His Excellency Mr. Abhisit Vejjajiva, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand at the Press Conference on the Occasion of the Official Visit to Thailand of His Excellency Dr. Jos? Ramos-Horta, President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste 12 January 2009 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
On behalf of the Royal Thai Government, I wish to express my warmest welcome to His Excellency Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta, President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, and his delegation on his Official Visit to Thailand during 11-13 January 2009. This visit symbolizes the importance Thailand places on its bilateral relations with Timor-Leste, as the President is the first high-level guest of my Administration. More importantly, on 13 January 2009, His Majesty the King will graciously grant an audience to His Excellency the President at Klai Kangwol Palace, Hua Hin, which is the highest honour for our guest. Today, the President and I met in an atmosphere of mutual trust, understanding, friendship and cooperation. Both of us noted with satisfaction that in just seven years since Thailand and Timor-Leste established diplomatic relations, our relations have grown at a satisfactory pace and will further expand as Timor-Leste now has an Embassy in Bangkok. We agreed to deepen our multi-faceted cooperation. I reaffirmed to the President that Thailand is determined to continue supporting Timor-Leste in anyway possible in her efforts to achieve stability and prosperity. Thailand will also continue to support the ongoing UN Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) as well as technical cooperation both at the bilateral and trilateral levels with other countries, international organizations and institutions to assist Timor-Leste in her nation-building efforts.
We discussed various areas of bilateral cooperation, especially technical cooperation, agriculture, and energy. Thailand reaffirmed its commitment to provide assistance to Timor-Leste in areas in which Thailand has expertise and skills. In this regard, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand is ready to sign the extension of the Memorandum of Understanding on Economic and Technical Cooperation. I will send a delegation to Dili as soon as possible in order to discuss details and review areas of cooperation determined by Timor-Leste’s side.
Agricultural development is one of Thailand’s expertise which, in my view, could benefit the well-being of Timorese people and the country’s sustainable economic growth. The President expressed his appreciation for my proposal to provide training courses on agricultural development for Timorese officials at the Royal Development Projects in Thailand. I also informed His Excellency the President/ that Thailand is ready to provide training courses to agricultural officials from Timor-Leste and to send our experts to Timor-Leste/ to help improve local rice production and research as well as fisheries and livestock development.
Regarding cooperation in energy, both of us acknowledged the immense potential in this sector and agreed to work in partnership. Today, we are very pleased to witness the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on Joint Cooperation in Energy Development between PTT Public Company Limited of Thailand and the Secretary of State for Natural Resources of Timor-Leste. We both are confident that this MOU will be the foundation for our future cooperation in the field of energy. To commence our cooperation under this MOU, I informed the President that Thailand is ready to provide financial assistance for a study visit by Timorese officials to learn from the technology and management skills of the PTT Public Company Limited, which could be useful for the development of the National Petroleum Company of Timor-Leste.
As Thailand is currently the Chair of ASEAN, I reiterated to the President Thailand’s support for Timor-Leste’s intention to become a member of ASEAN by 2012. I also look forward to inviting Timor-Leste to attend the 42nd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) as guest of the Chair and to participate in the 16th ARF in Thailand later this year. The President expressed his appreciation to Thailand’s continued assistance to impart its experiences and knowledge on ASEAN through appropriate exchanges and training programmes to Timor-Leste as we have done every year for the past three years.
I am very pleased with the fruitful outcome of today’s meeting with His Excellency Dr. Jos? Ramos-Horta. His visit provides us with an excellent opportunity to confirm our close relations and will lay a firm foundation for our future cooperation for years to come.
Prime Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Press Division, Department of Information Tel.(02) 643-5170
Fax. (02) 643-5169 E-mail : div0704@mfa.go.th End.