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.
(thailand.prd.go.th)