Prince Philippe of Belgium together with Princess Mathilde graciously visit Thailand during March 17-22, 2013 as the royal guests of His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen of Thailand. Prince Philippe was also accompanied by over 200 Belgian Ministers and business delegation.
PM’s Secretary General Suranand Vejajiva revealed detail of the discussion as follows:
PM Yingluck humbly received the audience of Prince Philippe of Belgium and Princess Mathilde as well as the business delegation from Belgium and reported the result of her visit to Belgium which proved successful. The royal visit reflects cordial relations between Belgium and Thailand in all dimensions, PM Yingluck also reported to His Royal Highness on the initiation of FTA negotiation between Thailand and EU.
The delegation from Belgium which comprised over 200 businessmen accompanied Prince Philippe of Belgium to seek cooperation on mutual trade and investment as well as create network between the private sectors of the two countries. On the occasion of his visit, HRH Prince Philippe is scheduled to preside over the launch of renovation of the Thai-Belgian Friendship Bridge on March 21.
His Royal Highness graciously congratulated the success of Thai-Belgium action plan which took 8 years to realize. The action plan would work as a framework for various cooperation between the two kingdoms.
On economic relations, Thailand and Belgium agreed to push forward mutual trade and investment both in quantity and value. Thailand currently has a plan for 2.2 trillion Baht infrastructure development projects in which Belgian investors could be part of, whereas the Thai Government also supports Thai investors in Europe. For this, Belgium can be the gateway to Europe for the Thai private sector. Furthermore, knowledge and researches could also be exchanged between research centers of the two countries.
After the discussion, the Crown Prince of Belgium presided over a signing ceremony of the Thai-Belgian Action Plan between Foreign Ministers of both countries, followed by the royal reception party in honor of the Crown Prince of Belgium and Princess Mathilde at the Ivory Room, Government House.
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