Van Rompuy onder de indruk van politieke en economische groei Thailand (en)

EUROPEAN COUNCIL THE PRESIDT

Brussels, 6 March 2013

EUCO 60/13 PRESSE 92 PR PCE 52

Remarks by

President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy i following his meeting with the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand Yingluck Shinawatra

I am delighted to welcome to the European Council the Prime Minister of Thailand, Ms Yingluck Shinawatra. We already met in New York last September during the General Assembly at the United Nations. And her visit today to the European Union is a vivid testimony to Thailand's and the European Union's resolve to build a stronger and deeper partnership

We reaffirmed that the European Union and Thailand share core values. I congratulated Thailand for its political stability and strong economic performance. The bilateral cooperation and the regional situation were the subject of our discussion today

We have reviewed the state of our relationship and welcomed the important recent progress. In this regard, we both warmly welcomed the recent provisional agreement reached on the EU-Thailand Bilateral Partnership Cooperation Agreement (PCA) and that negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will be launched soon

These two developments will together take EU-Thai cooperation to a new level, making our partnership wider and deeper

The global and European economic and financial situation has been an important part of the discussion today. On my side I stressed to the Prime Minister that the European Union has come a long way and is now turning the corner. The Prime Minister informed me on the state of the Thai economy and the measures recently taken by the government to reinforce the economic growth

On the regional issues, we focused our attention on the situation in South-East Asia, particularly on Thailand's central role in ASEAN. I have expressed the Prime Minister the great attention the EU is devoting to reinforce the relationship between ASEAN and the EU, two engines of regional integration

I warmly welcomed the "peace dialogue process" that your Government has agreed last week to launch with one of the groups in the Southern Border Provinces. More than 5000 lives have been lost in this decade old conflict. I hope that the security situation will now improve. The peace dialogue process is a very significant and a courageous step, which hopefully will lead to a comprehensive process and a solution. Nothing is more precious than peace

Before closing, I would like to reiterate my appreciation for your visit here, which greatly contributes to make the European Union and Thailand closer friends and stronger partners. And thank you for the invitation to visit your country

EUC