Press Remarks
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra
November 20, 2012
Santi Maitri, Government House
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media,
Let me start by once again welcoming President Barack Obama and his delegation to Thailand.
Thailand is the first country President Obama chose to visit following his decisive re-election less than two weeks ago. We appreciate the significance of this gesture Mr. President, we all thank you for being here.
President Obama’s visit is the perfect occasion to launch the celebration of the 180th anniversary of Thai-US diplomatic relations next year. I thanked both President Obama and Secretary Clinton for actively promoting Thai-U.S. relations and for the United States’ constructive engagement in Asia.
This afternoon, I had the honour of accompanying the President for an audience with His Majesty the King, reflecting the close relationship between our two countries at the highest level.
Later, at the bilateral meeting, we had productive and wide ranging discussions in an atmosphere of friendly partnership. Thailand is the oldest treaty ally of the U.S. in Asia and a long lasting one because of our shared commitment to democracy, human rights, and free markets.
I expressed to the President that it is my firm commitment to the people to preserve and protect the democratic system and I appreciate the President’s support for democracy in Thailand.
As we agreed that celebrating past successes is not enough, we look to the future and to build an even stronger strategic partnership that benefits both countries and indeed the broader region, ASEAN and Asia Pacific.On the economic front, to generate growth and create jobs for both Thais and Americans, the President and I agreed to redouble our efforts to promote trade, investment and people-to-people exchanges.
Furthermore, we agreed that Thailand is a strategic location and a hub for ASEAN connectivity and the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). We will work together to make the region an engine of growth, contributing towards global economic stability and sustainability.
Within this context, I informed the President that Thailand will initiate negotiations on the Trans Pacific Partnership or TPP, which will engage all stakeholders and undertake the necessary domestic legislative process to make it become a reality.
The President and I had wide ranging discussions about regional issues, and I welcomed his upcoming historic visits to Myanmar and Cambodia. We welcome the United States’ renewed focus on South East Asia and believe our bilateral partnership can help contribute to regional peace, security and prosperity.
But our cooperation goes beyond the region. At the global level, Thailand is concerned with the threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction or WMD. Therefore, informed the President that Thailand will join the Proliferation Security Initiative or PSI. We believe that PSI will help prevent WMD from falling into the wrong hands, which is in the shared interests of all.
The President and I also discussed on how to tackle transnational crime, in particular human trafficking. I reaffirmed my commitment to fight human trafficking which equals to modern slavery
We also discussed cooperation on combating terrorism and how to deal with the climate change issue especially in terms of disaster relief.
Finally, we recognise the importance of continued high level exchanges and consultations between our two countries as part of our growing partnership. The President and I agreed to stay in close touch, and to have our ministers and agencies do the same, on the rich agenda we discussed today.
Thank you.