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| Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra leads European Commission president
Jose Manuel Barroso on an inspection of the Guards of Honour at Government House yesterday. APICHIT JINAKUL |
Myanmar President Thein Sein is scheduled to visit Thailand on Wednesday, when the Thai government will kick off a two-day bilateral meeting on the joint development, worth US$50 billion (1.54 trillion baht).
Deputy government spokesman Chalitrat Chandrubeksa said Ms Yingluck will tomorrow prepare ministers and officials from transport, industry, energy and foreign ministries for the meeting, which is expected to cover three major issues.
Those issues are the development of the deep-sea port in southern Myanmar, the construction of a 132km road linking the sea port to the Thai-Myanmar border, and the development of a 33-megawatt power plant and transmission cables in the Dawei special economic area.
Ms Yingluck and Thein Sein will finalise the meeting outcome at the Asean Summit in Cambodia on Nov 17-20, when the two are expected to officially announce a joint partnership to support the Dawei deep-sea port project.
Thein Sein on Saturday met European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, who offered development aid to Myanmar.
Mr Barroso then visited Thailand and met Ms Yingluck yesterday.
They discussed various issues ranging from the decades-long diplomatic ties between Thailand and the European Union, to the new economic prospects in Southeast Asia when the Asean Economic Community is formed in 2015.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Ms Yingluck said she told Mr Barroso that Thailand is ready to be a gateway to the Asean single market so that investors from the EU can base their production here.
Ms Yingluck and Mr Barroso also agreed to seek closer cooperation on measures to tackle human trafficking, transnational crimes and money laundering.
The two are scheduled to meet again at the 9th Summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting held in Vientiane, Laos today and tomorrow.
