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23May 2008 |
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PGMA: RP & Thailand to push for common ASEAN visa |
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PGMA thanks Thai PM for commitment to continue supplying rice to RP |
22 May 2008 |
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Thai Prime Minister arriving in Manila for two-day visit |
| Thai Prime Minister arriving in Manila for two-day visit |
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Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej is arriving in Manila this afternoon as
part of his traditional visit to all Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(Asean) capitals. With his two-day Manila trip, the Thai leader will have completed his visits to all Asean capitals, except Brunei. Samak was elected the 25th prime minister of Thailand last January, following the victory of his party (the Prachachon or People Power Party or PPP) in the Dec. 23, 2007 general elections. In his three decades in politics, the 73-year-old Thai official had been deputy prime minister three times, minister of transportation twice, interior minister and deputy agriculture minister. The PM is also a celebrity chef in Thailand, having hosted a popular cooking show called ‘Tasting, Grumbling.’ In his meeting with the President, the following topics are expected to be discussed: cooperation on food security, improving the supply and distribution of rice, improving rice productivity through research and development, using the latest technique in crop establishment as well as rice breeding; tourism cooperation, trade and investment cooperation, Asean issues, humanitarian assistance to Myanmar, and Thailand's chairmanship of Asean. |
| PGMA: RP & Thailand to push for common ASEAN visa |
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The Philippines and Thailand will strongly push for the
adoption of a common visa that would make all ten countries of the
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) become a single tourism
destination. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo bared this in her toast during the official dinner Thursday night in Malacanang in honor of the visiting Thai Prime Minister who is on a two-day official visit to the Philippines. The President said the promotion of tourism in the ASEAN region was discussed during her bilateral meeting with the Thai Prime Minister Thursday afternoon in Malacanang. “Thailand is the acknowledged leader in tourism in our region. And I am glad that His Excellency, the Prime Minister, thinks it is a wise idea to share Thailand’s market with the rest of ASEAN,” the President said. The President said the Philippines and Thailand would jointly push for the adoption of a common visa for member countries when the kingdom assumes the ASEAN chairmanship in July. “So I hope that we will be having more package tours that include each other, and also work during the leadership of Thailand of the ASEAN. Work to have a common visa for all the ten countries so that countries who visit Thailand can also visit one or the other of these countries in ASEAN,” the President said. The initiative is expected to allow foreign tourists to enter and visit all countries in the ASEAN on a single visa that would streamline tourism to the region. Turning ASEAN into a single tourism destination is in keeping with the full integration of ASEAN into a “One Caring and Sharing Community” by 2015, which the Philippines strongly pushed during its chairmanship in the Cebu Summit. |
| PGMA thanks Thai PM for commitment to continue supplying rice to RP |
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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last night thanked visiting
Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej for Thailand’s commitment to continue
supplying rice to the Philippines whenever needed. The President expressed this in her toast during the official dinner Thursday night in Malacanang in honor of the visiting Thai Prime Mister who is on a two-day official visit to the Philippines. As the global leader in rice production, the President said Thailand has shown a wonderful sense of responsibility by supplying rice to its needy neighbors particularly in the face of the global rise in oil and food prices. “The Philippines has reached out to Thailand and we thank Thailand, the world’s largest exporter of rice, for being responsive not only to our needs but to the needs of your other neighbors,” the President said. As rice management is a global problem, the President assured the Thai Prime Minister that the Philippines is investing heavily to increase its own rice production to lessen the country’s dependence on imports. After the bilateral meeting, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap welcomed Thailand’s offer to continue providing the Philippines’ requirement for the staple. “We thank the Prime Minister for his very gracious remarks, that very gracious commitment to the Philippines in terms of rice sales should we need it. No volume was discussed, the price is also negotiable. So the Prime Minister just said that in the event that the Philippines should need rice sales, Thailand would be more than open to supplying the Philippines,” Yap said. |
