Prayut urges acceleration of rail work
hai and Japanese leaders have agreed to speed up their cooperation on the Thai rail system and in other areas.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha held talks with Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe on Saturday ahead of the third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (3WCDPR) in Japan.
Gen Prayut also took a train from Tokyo to attend the meeting in Sendai.
Thai government spokesman Yongyuth Mayalarp said after the meeting the two leaders followed up on bilateral cooperation under their memorandum of intent.
The Thai Transport Ministry is setting up a working panel at the ministerial level for the rail system, he said.
Gen Prayut also told Mr Abe that Thailand welcomed Japan as a partner in water-management projects, which have been revised. Bids on the projects would be call soon, Mr Yongyuth said.
Bangkok also proposed that a meeting between Thailand, Japan and Myanmar be held on the Dawei special economic zone at the Greater Mekong-Japan meeting in Tokyo in July.
On security, Thailand hopes to upgrade their existing Thailand-Japan Politico-Military/ Military-Military Consultations (PM/MM) to the ministerial level so they can cooperate on expanding the defence industry as well.
Gen Prayut also asked Japan to buy more Thai farm products such as processed pork and fruit and to speed up allowing two strains of Thai mangoes — khieo savoei and choke anan — to be sold in the Japanese market. Both strains are in Japan's risk assessment process.
The Thai prime minister also urged a new round of free-trade talks under the Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement (JTEPA) soon.