On 16 July 2010, Mr. Wan Qingliang, Vice Governor of Guangdong Province and Mayor of Guangzhou, the People’s Republic of China, paid a courtesy call on Mr. Kasit Piromya, Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the occasion of his visit to Thailand to attend the 1st Meeting of Thailand - Guangdong Working Group for Cooperation, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Foreign Minister Kasit stated that he supported the joint venture of SMEs between Thailand and Guangdong because mostly of the Thai investment in Guangdong now are large-scaled projects such as the Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc. The Thai Foreign Minister also congratulated the Guangdong Province Government for hosting the 16th Asian Games and wished for the success of the event. He took this opportunity to inform the Chinese side that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has accepted the Chinese invitation to attend the opening ceremony of the Asian Games on 12 November 2010.
Mr. Wan stated that the objectives of his visit to Thailand this time were to attend the 1st Meeting of Thailand — Guangdong Working Group for cooperation, to discuss ways and means to import Thai fruits to the Asian Games in Guangzhou, and to promote the upcoming 16th Asian Games in Guangdong to the Thai people.
Foreign Minister Kasit informed Mr. Wan that Thailand was proud that its fruits would be used by Guangdong Province Government to promote the 16th Asian Games. The Thai side therefore has to find quality fruits such as mangoes, pomelos, bananas, coconuts, longans, rose apples and durians to be exported to Guangdong during that time.
After the courtesy call, Mr. Wan led the Chinese delegation to attend the 1st Meeting of Thailand - Guangdong Working Group for Cooperation, while the Thai Delegation was led by Mr. Theerakun Niyom, Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Mr. Theerakun mentioned that this Working Group mechanism would play an important role in opening up the new era of the cooperation between Thailand and Guangdong Province in the areas of economic, trade, investment and tourism.
The 1st Working Group Meeting was successful, as reflected in the Thai Prime Minister’s decision to attend the opening ceremony of the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou in November and the Guangdong Province Government’s plan to promote and import Thai fruits for the 16th Asian Games, which would be participated by 14,000 athletes and officials from 45 countries in Asia, as well as 10 million sport fans and tourists.
Furthermore, both sides also set the targets and action plans for next year comprised 6 sectors as follows:
1. Trade Agreed to increase the volume of trade in the year 2011 by 10 percent from that of the year 2010, and set up contact points for coordination and consultation to solve any trade problems that may arise.
2. Agriculture Agreed to promote exchange of agricultural knowledge including researchers and farmers.
3. Investment Agreed to promote investment between Thailand and China in various sectors, and co host a seminar on joint venture in each country once a year.
4. Tourism Agreed to enhance network of cooperation in order to exchange information and facilitation in tourism of both sides.
5. Private sector Agreed to promote the cooperation between the Thai trade associations and China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Guangdong Branch.
6. Education and Health Supported exchange of students and teachers, and cooperation on epidemic prevention. Both sides will consider and revised the outcome of cooperation in this area in 2011, which Guangdong Province will host the said meeting.
China is an important market for Thailand, especially in Guangdong, which has the population of 95 million people. Guangdong is the port of entry for one third of Thailand’s exported products to China. Moreover, 70 - 80 percents of Thai agricultural products such as rice, fruits, rubber trees and cassavas also enter China thru Guangdong. The Guangdong people are the biggest group of Chinese tourists who visited Thailand. In 2009, the Chinese ranked the third in term of foreign visitors who came to the Kingdom.
For further information, please contact the Press Division, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel.02-6435170, Fax.02-6435169, E-mail: div0704@mfa.go.th