Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met with Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, President of the Thailand National Legislative Assembly Pornpetch Wichicholchai and attended a Vietnam-Thailand business forum on July 23 as part of his visit to the Southeast Asian country.

The PM lauded the role that the princess and the Thai Royal Family play in supporting the Vietnamese community in Thailand.

He thanked the princess for her assistance to a number of Vietnamese primary schools as well as the scientific research cooperation between the two countries. He also expressed his hope that the princess and the Royal Family would support the partnership in preserving the Mekong River water resource.

For her part, the Thai princess said that as a Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO, she is willing to make contributions to the promotion of education collaboration between Thailand and Vietnam.

At a meeting with President of the Thailand National Legislative Assembly Pornpetch Wichicholchai, the PM briefed the host on the outcomes of his talks with his counterpart Prayut Chan-o-cha as well as the Joint Cabinet Meeting with the signing of a joint statement as well as four agreements.

The joint statement maps out orientations and measures to comprehensively foster bilateral ties in politics, diplomacy, economy, trade, education, tourism, defence, security and people-to-people contacts, he noted.

Both sides also agreed to promote mutual support for the interest of both peoples as well as to benefit the whole ASEAN, he added.

Pornpetch Wichicholchai said he hopes the legislative bodies of both countries will jointly hold large cooperation activities to mark the 40 th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties in 2016.

He congratulated Vietnam on successfully organising the 132 nd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU-32).

Speaking at the Vietnam-Thailand business forum, the PM said Vietnam highly values Thai-funded projects and pledged that the country will create all favourable conditions for Thai investors to develop stable businesses.

Vietnam is actively speeding up international integration in all fields and has set up relationship with almost all countries around the globe, he noted, adding that the country has strategic partnerships with 13 countries, including Thailand, and trade ties with over 200 countries and territories.

From 2011-2015, the country saw an average annual trade revenue rise of about 15 percent with last year’s revenue reaching 300 billion USD. It is estimated to hit 350 billion USD this year.

Thailand is now the 10 th largest investor in Vietnam with 392 projects worth nearly 7 billion USD. The country is also Vietnam’s fifth largest trade partner with about 4.4 billion USD in trade in the first five months of this year.

At the Joint Cabinet Meeting, the two sides agreed to raise trade to 20 billion USD by 2020, he said, adding that both will focus on cooperation in sea tourism, passenger transportation, garment-textile, footwear, agriculture, seafood, farm produce processing and manufacturing.

The same day, PM Nguyen Tan Dung also met with the Vietnamese community in Thailand, lauding their contributions to national construction and defence and expressing hope that they will continue joining hands with those at home for the growth of the country.

Also on July 23, the Government leader received top Thai businesses.-VNA