Yingluck heads for Japan to tout recovery
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Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will today fly to Japan on a four-day official visit to strengthen ties and revive investor confidence after last year's massive floods devastated many Japanese firms and industrial estates in Thailand.
Some Japanese companies are reportedly planning to move their operations out of Thailand.
The prime minister’s schedule includes an audience with Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito and discussions with her counterpart Yoshihiko Noda on a wide range of issues of mutual interest.
She will use the occasion of the 125th anniversary of diplomatic relations to promote the strategic partnership in all aspects – political, security, economic and social – at both the bilateral and multilateral level.
The focus will be on measures supporting the development of linkages between Asean and Japan, and Mekong Subregion connectivity. A topic of particular interest will be the rehabilitation of the economies of Thailand and Japan, both of which faced natural disasters in 2011.
She will use the opportunity to confirm to the Japanese private sector that her government has prepared well to cope with future floods.
The Japanese private sector will also be invited to join rehabilitation projects for infrastructure in Thailand.
She will deliver a keynote speech at a seminar on investment opportunities in Thailand, with many members of the Japanese business community in attendance.
The trip coincides with the first anniversary of the March 11, 2012 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan.
Yingluck is set to inspect damaged areas in the city of Sendai in Miyaki prefecture, where she will console victims and cheer up flood-affected Thais who have been transferred to Japan to work temporarily until they can return to their jobs in Thailand.
