Upcoming Visit of the Japanese Prime Minister to Thailand

(12/01/2013)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife will pay an official visit to Thailand on 17-18 January 2013, as guests of the Thai government. It will be the first official visit of a Japanese Prime Minister to Thailand in 11 years after former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited the country in 2003, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During the visit, the Japanese Prime Minister will meet Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for talks on various issues, covering bilateral, regional, and multilateral cooperation. They will exchange views on the Thailand – Japan Strategic Partnership, based on longstanding relationships between the two countries and shared values of democracy and mutual interest. Thailand and Japan celebrated the 125th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2012. The two leaders will also discuss ways to promote peace, prosperity, and sustainable development in the region through the ASEAN-Japan Dialogue Partnership, Mekong-Japan Cooperation, and other regional frameworks. Emphasis will be placed on connectivity, ASEAN community-building, and cooperation between ASEAN and Japan. ASEAN and Japan will celebrate the 40th year of their friendship and cooperation in 2013. Japan is one of ASEAN’s largest trading partners and investors. Thailand and Japan are important economic partners of each other. Both countries have signed several economic cooperation agreements. The most significant one is the Thai-Japanese free trade agreement, the Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement, known in short as JTEPA, which was signed in April 2007 and came into force in November the same year. From January to November 2012, trade between the two countries amounted to 2.11 trillion baht. Japan is Thailand’s largest trading partner, while Thailand is currently Japan’s sixth largest trading partner. In terms of investment, Japan is the largest group of investors in Thailand, with investment value of 312 billion baht, accounting for 63 percent of the total foreign direct investment in Thailand. There are currently about 7,000 Japanese companies operating in Thailand. The two nations have worked closely together to tackle investment problems, and Thailand has received a positive response from Japan, even when it faced severe floods in late 2011. Thailand has been a popular tourism destination among the Japanese. A total of 1,239,555 Japanese tourists visited Thailand between January and November 2012, compared to only 211,976 during the same period of 2011. The number represents an increase of 62.4 percent. Among the largest groups of international visitors to Thailand, Japan comes third, after Malaysia and China. At present, there are 40,957 Thais living in Japan, while 47,251 Japanese people are living in Thailand.